Berk University
by Pluckycross
Summary: Modern AU - Hiccup finds a happy surprise when he arrives at Berk University with his best friend Fishlegs. The two quickly find a group of great, loyal friends and Hiccup finds someone much, much more important to him. Someone who captures his heart. But will the University life finally bring this couple together or will it tear them apart? Hiccstrid, FishlegsXRuffnut.
1. Chapter 1

All around Hiccup, students were piling out of their parent's cars with heaps of their personal belongings clutched in there arms. They were all heading to the dorms where they would, for the most part, be spending the next few years of their life. Hiccup had arrived early that day with his Uncle Gobber and had already unpacked his things into his half of the dorm he was sharing with his best friend Fishlegs; now he was taking in the atmosphere of the University for the first time.

His dad hadn't dropped him off as per usual, he was too busy for Hiccup. It had been like that for almost all of Hiccup's life; his father was to busy being the CEO of one of Berk's most profitable businesses, Haddock Enterprises, so he had no time for his son and as a result, Hiccup had almost no relationship with his father. He had practically been raised by his Uncle Gobber who, no matter how busy he was at the garage he owned (The Berk Forge), had always made time for his nephew. His mother had left when Hiccup was just a young boy so the memories of her were few and far between; his father had told him once that she left to travel the world and never came back. The way he had said it made Hiccup think something more had happened to make her leave but he didn't press it any further, not wishing to induce one of his father's painful outbursts of anger that he had from time to time. It was bad enough having to deal with the stubborn man who never listened to you when he was calm.

Hiccup felt his phone buzz in his pocket and he pulled it out to see he had one unread text from Fishlegs.

"_Hey, dude I just arrived at our room. Where are you at?"_ Hiccup turned around to his Uncle Gobber who was sat in the driver's side of his car, getting ready to leave and called out

"I'm off back to my room, Fishlegs has just arrived!"

"Alright Kiddo," Gobber shouted back, "Good Luck!" He smiled, showing off his golden tooth, and wound down the window of his car, driving off to the campus exit. Hiccup looked down once more at his phone before shooting Fishlegs a quick text.

"_On my way back now, See you in a minute dude."_

* * *

"Come on Ruff," Astrid moaned in a very annoyed tone, "You've been unpacking for like an hour now. I want to go and check out the campus before everything closes off."

"It's bloody midday Astrid," Ruffnut responded, "They won't close for hours. And I know you really mean you want to check out the gym and the other sports facilities."

"Yeah well I have to start training again as soon as I can, I mean I already signed up online for the Track team, the Football team, the Swim team, the Netball team and…" Astrid was cut off by her friend.

"Yeah, yeah we get it. You signed up for a lot of clubs. That doesn't mean you can't relax for a little while. I heard there is a party going on tonight, we should go."

"And where did you hear about this?" Astrid asked sceptically.

"Tuff was invited by his roommate, Snotlout I think it was, he invited me and by extension you to come."

"I don't know," Astrid said hesitantly.

"Come on, Strid" Ruff pleaded, "It will be fun."

"Fine," Astrid relented, "But you have to come down to the gym with me for a few hours now then." She smirked at Ruff.

"Fine," Ruff agreed, "I could use a run, I myself have a few clubs to get prepared for."

The two girls quickly gathered up their gym gear and left their room, locking the door behind them and headed down the corridor toward the stairwell. They were stopped, however, just down the hall as a blond-haired boy who looked very similar to Ruff and a stubby but muscular brown haired jock stepped out of their room into the path of them.

"Sup Sis," the blond said with a grin on his face. Ruffnut groaned,

"Hey Tuff," she replied in mock annoyance. They were twins the two of them and loved to tease and fight with one another.

"Where are the two of you beautiful ladies going?" The other boy asked. Both Astrid and Ruffnut grimaced at his remark.

"Down to the gym," Astrid responded, "I'm guessing you're Snotlout?"

"The man, the myth, the legend," He responded proudly, "I see my reputation precedes me."

"No just you fit the description of the stubby, proud boy my brother gave me," Tuffnut snickered.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he replied.

"Anyways," Tuffnut carried on," We are heading down to the 1st year's common room which is on the way to the gym I believe, and I take it we will be seeing you at the party tonight?"

"You know it bruv," Ruffnut responded enthusiastically and with that, the four of them set off in a group to their respective areas of the campus.

* * *

Hiccup pulled down his reading glasses and peered up from the book he was reading to see Fishlegs fussing about with his wardrobe.

"You know it is only meant to be a casual party right Fish?" Hiccup asked his friend, "You don't have to pull everything out of your wardrobe after you just put it all away to find a great outfit. You can just go in jeans and a T-shirt like I am."

"Yeah," Fishlegs replied, "To be honest I don't really know why I care that much, I just want to put on a good impression and at least slot into a friend group."

"I know what you mean," Hiccup said, "But it will be fine dude. Everyone will probably be drunk anyways."

"How did you even find out about the party?" Fishlegs asked.

"I friend of mine from that camp I went on last summer, Tuffnut. His roommate is one of the people organising it so he invited me. And I invited you. And now we are both going." Hiccup replied laughing a little. "Speaking of the fact we are going, we should probably set off in a second. I'll go wait outside whilst you get changed so you can preserve your fragile modesty," Hiccup joked.

"Not funny Hic," Fishlegs said sternly as he glared at him. Hiccup continued to laugh at his friend's reaction as he slid off his bed and slipped out the door of their dorm.

The corridor was empty at that time as most people had already made their way over to the party, getting their early so they could have the first pick on the drinks. Hiccup and Fishlegs didn't care much for drinking so they were happy to turn up a bit later. Hiccup leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the corridor taking in the quietness of the usually busy dormitory. Suddenly he heard the noise of two people chatting as they made their way up the stairs. They rounded the corner at the end of the corridor and Hiccup could see two people who looked very familiar to him. He racked his brain trying to figure out who they may be as he stared at them. Suddenly the blonde haired girl who was leading them stopped, causing the other blonde girl to bump into her. She let out a gasp before Hiccup heard her exclaim down the hall.

"Hiccup! Is that you?" That soft, sweet, angelic voice shook his brain back into action and he realised who the two girls staring at him were; and most importantly who the girl who had called out his name was.

"Astrid! Ruff!" he called back down the hall, noticing a smile appear on the face of both the girls although on Astrid it was a full blown smile as opposed to Ruff slight smirk of a smile.

Astrid rushed forward and wrapped both her arms around Hiccup pulling him into a tight hug as he wrapped his arms around her body too. A huge smile was plastered on both of their faces making them look very stupidly happy. Astrid pulled back after a few moments with the same goofy smile still spread on her lips and Ruffnut took up the spot she had just been in; although she held on much less tightly and for a lot less of time.

"I never thought I'd see you two again," Hiccup stated his voiced laced with more happiness than he thought it had ever been. Ruff and Astrid looked at each other and smiled before looking back at Hiccup. Ruffnut was the first to speak,

"It's not just us Hic," she said as though she was falling back into a rhythm, "Tuff is here too." Hiccups smile widened even more at that sentence.

"Looks like we will be spending the next couple years together," Astrid beamed as her smile intensified evermore. All three of them were grinning like fools now. Hiccup let out a contented sigh.

"Man, I've missed you guys."

* * *

**So, I wrote this in about an hour as I felt really inspired after reading other fanfictions on the similar idea of the gang at University/College. I will be trying to update about 1 or 2 times a week even if I don't get many reads I just like the idea of this too much to let it fizzle out. Until the next chapter, I hope you enjoyed.**

**Please leave a comment about what you enjoyed or any constructive criticism. It really helps motivate me to write more if that is what you want. :)**

**P.S The Hiccup in my story won't be the really scrawny, helpless kind of Hiccup I have seen in some other fanfics. I am basing him off Hiccup in RTTE around season 4 or 5 so he will have some confidence in himself and ability to defend things he loves but will still have problems and insecurities he will have to deal with. So you don't have to worry about him becoming some super macho hero that does not fit the character of Hiccup at all, I will try and balance out how I think his personality should be using RTTE as my guideline :)**

\- Pluckycross


	2. Chapter 2

"Why are you guys so damn sweaty?" Hiccup asked with a chuckle as he showed the two girls where they had left light sweat marks on his t-shirt from hugging him.

"Uh Doofus, we've just got back from the gym," Ruffnut joked, gesturing to the fact that both she and Astrid were wearing their sports gear which consisted of a sports bra and tight leggings. Hiccup hadn't noticed up until that point what the girls had been wearing but suddenly after Ruff pointed it out he began to blush as he looked at Astrid. She was so perfectly beautiful to him; even as she was obviously tired and sweaty she looked angelic to his eyes.

"Whelp, I look like an idiot now," he laughed, causing the two girls to giggle along with him. Despite the time they had spent not talking they seemed to fall back into a rhythm of how they had been when they had been together almost every day.

"What are you doing stood out in the corridor all alone?" Astrid asked.

"I'm waiting for my roommate to get changed so we can go to this party that Tuff's roommate was organising," Hiccup replied, "You hear about it?"

"Yeah," Astrid said, "In fact, we're just about to get changed ready to go. If you wait for us we can all go down together." She smiled at Hiccup, a gesture which he returned causing a wave of warmth to wash through her. Suddenly an idea struck her. "Oh, and one more thing," she said with a smile, "Pass me your phone."

"What for?" Hiccup asked, putting his hand up on his neck in a sort of awkward position.

"Just give it," she replied. He reached into his pocket and brought his phone out, typing in the password before it was taken from his hands by Astrid. She fiddled with the keypad for a second then spoke. "Seeing as though I never got the chance to give it to you before, I thought I would do it now." She passed Hiccups phone back to him and he looked down to see her name added to his contacts with two heart emojis after it. He smiled to himself as he slid his phone back into his pocket. The two girls smiled once more at Hiccup then walked past him into their dorm; leaving him alone in the corridor with a grin plastered on his face.

* * *

Astrid stipped out of her gym clothes and changed into the much more comfortable outfit of skinny jeans and a top. Ruffnut, however, had changed into a top with a mini skirt. Astrid looked disapprovingly at her friend's clothing choice.

"Do you have to dress so…" she was in the middle of asking when Ruff cut in.

"So what? So slutty?"

"I was going to say revealing," Astrid replied with a scowl.

"Yeah, I'm just messing with ya," Ruffnut laughed before carrying on, "How do you expect me to get any action if I don't look the part of wanting it?" Astrid sighed,

"Well if you do get some action make sure not to bring them back here."

"Why not? You could always go stay with your new boyfriend."

"My new what?" Astrid asked with a very perplexed tone of voice.

"Hiccup, your new boyfriend. I saw how quickly you ran to hug him. And I know you had a crush on him before we left summer camp."

"Oh just shut it, Ruff. We are just friends and I was just excited to see him after so long."

"Sure just friend," Ruff replied with a wink, earning her a punch on the arm from Astrid.

She had tried to hide the fact that she may have had a minor crush on the cute green-eyed, auburn-haired, goofy guy that was Hiccup but she had found it very hard to after they had gotten close at the summer camp where she had met him. He had quickly joined their little group of her, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut and the four of them had had an amazing summer today. But she had been too nervous back then to ask Hiccup for his number or give him hers so she could message him when they left and so the only things she had heard from him came from her best friends brother. Tuff had taken Hiccups phone on the day they had left the camp and simply just put his number in it, saying something like "_Text me whenever dude and we can meet up or chat or something."_ It was something she had tried to do all 2 weeks they had been at the camp but she had been uncharacteristically nervous around Hiccup that she couldn't. It confused her though; Astrid was never nervous, never at home, never at school, and never around any crush she had had in the past. She was calm, collected, cool, badass, and she was definitely not ever nervous. But something about Hiccup changed that.

So after they had left camp Astrid had resigned herself to never seeing him again, after spending an almost whole week getting close to him to the point she considered him a very close friend; she thought she would never see him again. But here he was now, living right down the hall from her and that thought filled her with a strange warmth and she didn't know why.

Astrid came back to reality as Ruff waved her face in front of her face.

"Earth to Astrid," she said. Astrid jolted ever so slightly and turned to her friend,

"Yeah sorry," she said with a slight laugh.

"Are we gonna get going?" Ruffnut asked.

"Yeah," Astrid replied as she picked up her phone and headed out the door into the corridor.

* * *

Hiccup looked up from his phone as he heard a door creak open to see Fishlegs wander out of their room wearing an outfit similar to Hiccup's but with lighter jeans and a different coloured T-shirt.

"Are we going then?" Fishlegs asked when he saw that Hiccup made no move to leave, "Don't tell me you made me get changed just to decide you don't want to go."

"Nah, we're still going dude," Hiccup replied looking up from his phone, "We are just waiting for some people."

"What new people?"

"Some friends that I know from summer camp and who just happen to live right down there," Hiccup replied as he gestured to a door just down the hall from him, "They should be out in a minute."

"Alright man and these friends would be?"

"Astrid and Ruffnut."

"Ahh, the famous Astrid." Fishlegs chuckled to himself.

"Oh, so I'm famous now am I?" they heard someone call down the hall and looked up to see Astrid and Ruffnut exiting there room. Hiccup began to blush as he turned bright red and both the girl started laughing at the sudden change in his face colour. "And what am I famous for?" She asked with a smile after the laughing fit subsided.

"Nothing, in particular, I have just heard a lot about you from Hiccup," Fishlegs replied.

"Speaking of Hiccup," said Astrid as she looked at the boy who was starting to look nervous now causing her to smile, "Are you gonna introduce us to your friend?" Hiccup jolted at the mention of his name and took a few seconds to recollect himself from his embarrassed state.

"Uhh… yeah… right," He stumbled, "Astrid and Ruff, this is Fishlegs my best friend; Fishlegs, this is Astrid and Ruff some close friends of mine from summer camp."

"Nice to meet you Fishlegs," Astrid said with a friendly smile.

"Please call me Fish, and it is nice to meet you too," he replied, returning her smile.

"Hey," was all Ruff seemed to be able to muster as she stared at Fishlegs.

"Nice to meet you as well Ruff," Fishlegs said with the same smile he had given to Astrid. Ruff turned her head away from him trying to hid the fact that she was blushing slightly. Hiccup appeared to have recovered now and started speaking in his normal, calm voice again.

"We should probably get to the party before we are too late to enjoy it," he said.

"These things tend to go on into the night," Astrid replied, "But yeah it's probably time we headed for the party." With that, the group of them set off out of the dorm and across the campus to the woods where the party was taking place. Astrid and Hiccup walked up front talking to one another trying to catch up while behind them Fishlegs tried but ultimately failed to start a conversation with the unusually quiet and flustered Ruffnut.

* * *

** After the seemingly positive response to the chapter I put out yesterday I felt inspired to carry on writing almost straight away. So here it is, the product of a few hours work on the story. **

**I hope you enjoy it and please make sure to leave a review if you do or even if you don't and think I could do something better. Support or constructive criticism really helps. :)**

**Next chapter will be the party and some more in-depth diving into the relationship these characters all have together :) **

**I'll see you then.**

\- Pluckycross


	3. Chapter 3

The sun was beginning to set as the time the group arrived at the small woods on the opposite side of the campus to their dorms. Already they could hear the faint sound of music blasting from speakers deeper in the woods and see the flames from some campfire. At the edge of the woods, people were walking towards them, likely leaving to head back to their dorms as they were on the courses that started slightly earlier than the rest of the University courses. They didn't have to go far into the trees before they arrived at the main site of the party were two bonfires had been set up surrounded by logs that various people were sat on; as well as this there were lots of empty beer bottles and unopened six-packs around the logs. The students who weren't sat around the fires were a few hundred yards away in a clearing, dancing in front of two large speakers in a drunken haze.

Almost immediately after they had arrived at one of the campfires, a very drunken Snotlout came stumbling over to the four of them; his eyes trailing up and down Astrid's body whilst he licked his lips. She glared at him as he drew near and then punched him hard in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor. It didn't take him long to very unceremoniously claw his way back to his feet at which point he turned to Astrid with an alcohol-induced grin on his face.

"You dn't hav to pley hrd to get bby," he managed to slur out of his mouth as he leaned towards Astrid's lips. She hit him once more and whilst this didn't knock him to the ground like before it turned Snot around long enough for him to get distracted by another girl and go stumbling off away from the group.

"I'm guessing you know him?" Hiccup asked with a very perplexed look on his face.

"Unfortunately yes I do," Astrid replied.

"He's my brother's roommate," Ruff finished for her. Hiccup nodded with understanding, not really having a reason to push it any further. Before anyone could say anything else Ruffnut spoke up,

"Well I'm off to get some action," she simply stated earning herself a grimace from Astrid. Hiccup just laughed as the blonde haired girl wandered off towards the beer table.

"What do you wanna do?" Hiccup asked as he turned back to face Fishlegs.

"I'll probably just stay around the bonfires, I need more than a few drinks before I even attempt to dance," his friend responded with a laugh.

"Yeah, that probably a good idea," Hiccup agreed.

"Nuh, uh" Hiccup heard Astrid say behind him as she grabbed hold of his hand, "You are coming dancing with me." With that said she dragged Hiccup off towards the dancefloor as he mouthed "_help me" _to Fishlegs, but Fishlegs just raised his hands as if to say, "_it's not my problem," _as he laughed.

* * *

There was absolutely no way that Astrid was going to let him away with not dancing, and no way in hell she was going to go up to dance all alone just so she could get groped by some drunk, sweaty jock like Snotlout. If anyone was going to be touching her she would rather is be Hiccup. So despite his protests, he ended up dancing out in the clearing with Astrid. The music was deafeningly loud making it almost impossible to have any kind of discussion and so after a few minutes of a lot of "what?" and "I can't hear what you are saying Hiccup, speak up" he had given up trying to speak to her. They were almost in the middle of the dancers with people crowded on every side of them, but every so often the crowd parted around them long enough to see Ruffnut flirting with one of the jocks or Tuffnut, who hadn't spoken to them since they arrived (probably because he hadn't noticed them), acting like an idiot; hyped up on alcohol and the very bassy music.

Something seemed off with Ruff tonight from where Astrid was looking. Normally she would spend hours at parties hunting for someone to bed for the night but after a few attempts with some less than sober jocks, she seemed to have given up. Astrid didn't see her for a while after that as she focused on dancing with Hiccup, who appeared to have loosened up a bit from when he had first been dragged off to dance, but when she finally did see Ruff she was sat down on a log around the campfire talking to Fishlegs. "_Not her usual catch," _Astrid thought to herself, smiling at her pun, "_Perhaps she just got bored of trying tonight."_

She was brought back from her thoughts when she felt Hiccup tapping on her shoulder. He smiled at her then gestured that he was going to head back over to the bonfires. She pouted and tried to pull him back as he went to leave but he slipped out of her grasp and disappeared into the crowd. Almost at once she felt another pair of hands wrap around her waist and turned around with a growl, forcefully shoving a very drunk, and very confused jock straight to the floor. No one touched Astrid Hofferson without her permission. Strangely though, she found herself wishing those hands that had wrapped around her waist had been Hiccup's and realising he had already gone, she decided to follow him over to the bonfire.

Astrid arrived at the bonfire to find all of her friend group and Snotlout (though she guessed she would be including him in her friend group very soon) around the warmth of the fire. Snotlout had passed out from drinking too much with his head laid against one of the wooden logs; Ruff was drinking her way through what had to be her sixth drink of the night whilst Fishlegs chatted to her about random geeky things; and Hiccup was sat with a beer cupped in his hands and a six pack between his legs whilst he listened to a surprisingly calm Tuffnut talk about what he had been up to since summer camp. Hiccup smiled his cute, goofy smile at her as she walked over, causing her heart to jitter slightly and then gesturing to the six-pack between his legs he asked,

"Want one?"

"Definitely," she replied with a laugh as he handed a bottle to her after popping the cap off of it. Somewhere in the time it took Hiccup to hand her the bottle, Tuffnut had disappeared into thin air; leaving Hiccup looking around for very confused when he turned back to continue their conversation. He shook his head and laughed slightly before turning back to Astrid with a smile on his lips.

"So," he asked, "How have you been?"

* * *

Hiccup and Astrid talked late into the night, discussing how they had both been since they last saw one another; what they had been up to; and eventually just talking about sweet nothings. By the time midnight hit Astrid had drunk about eight bottles to Hiccup's two and he was starting to see the effects of it. Her words were becoming more slurred and she was giggling a lot, something that sober Astrid almost never did. Sure she laughed but Astrid almost never giggled, she wasn't that kind of girl. Hiccup liked it though, he thought that her laughter was beautiful, but by god, when she giggled, she sounded like an angel sent down from heaven, like the sweet melody of a choir, it made his heart jump in his chest and he simply couldn't get enough of it.

At this point though, he decided she had had enough to drink and so when she gestured for him to pass her another bottle he shook his head.

"Comme onnnn," she pouted, "pleeease." She batted her eyelids seductively at him.

"That," he laughed, "is more than enough proof that you, my dear, have had enough to drink."

"Ohh comme onn, Just one more."

"It is not happening, Milady," he stated with a smile, "You have had far too much to drink." She pouted once more then all of a sudden seemed to forget what she was annoyed about and leaned towards him,

"You want to knooow a secret Hiccy?" she asked with a grin plastered on her face.

"What?" he asked with a smirk. She gestured for him to come closer, leaning in towards his ear and whispered quietly,

"I thinnnkk youuu areee..."

Astrid froze and then suddenly she threw up all over herself and Hiccup.

* * *

The light shone blindingly in through the window and she grimaced as it made contact with her. Her head was pounding and she felt like she was about to throw up. Sluggishly and grumpily Astrid sat up in the bed. She looked down to see that she was no longer wearing her jeans and t-shirt but instead, under the covers, she was wearing a T-shirt that was obviously too large for her and a pair of tracksuit bottoms that fit in the same category. She looked around and then something clicked in her tired, confused brain. This wasn't her room.

Just as she came to this realisation the door clicked open and Hiccup wandered in with two cups of coffee, shutting it lightly behind him to avoid it making a loud noise.

"Good morning little miss drunk," he said with a smirk, "How is the hangover treating you?"

"I feel like I have a ball of lead stuck in my head. It fucking hurts," she remarked back.

"Here, drink this," He said passing her one of the coffees, "It will help with your headache."

She accepted the drink from him, taking a sip to find it was just the right temperature.

"Hiccup?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Why am I in your room?" He chuckled slightly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You passed out last night at the party. I was going to bring you back to your room but I couldn't find Ruff or Fishlegs anywhere and your door was locked so I couldn't get inside. So I carried you here and put you in my bed."

"And where did you sleep?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"On the floor," he replied very quickly, gesturing to the pile of blankets in the corner of the room, "I would never…"

"I know," she cut him off with a smirk, "I was just messing with you." Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. "One final thing though, why am I wearing what I presume are your clothes?"

"You kind of threw up all over your clothes as well as mine," he said with a laugh, "So I put them in the washing machine and got you something to wear from my wardrobe."

"Just trying to find an excuse to get me naked were you?" Astrid asked with a playful smile. Hiccup looked very flustered.

"I didn't… Umm… You know." he replied his face turning beet red. She laughed at his current state.

"I'm messing again Hicc." she said in between laughs.

"I can go and get your clothes if you want," Hiccup said, recovering from his flustered state, "They are probably done by now."

"That would be lovely," she replied, "Oh and Hiccup"

"Yeah."

"If you ever undress me again without my permission there will be trouble."

He gulped causing Astrid burst out laughing, not caring about the pain it was causing her head.

* * *

** As promised, the party scene. I was a bit apprehensive about writing this, to begin with, but after I got into it I really enjoyed writing the interactions between drunk Astrid and tipsy Hiccup. I think in the end it turned out very well and it is definitely my favourite chapter so far.**

**I'd love to hear what you guys thought of it so as always, reviews are encouraged and I will mention again that they really help motivate me. So if you want to see more make sure to hit me up with a review :)**

**Until next time,**

-Pluckycross


	4. Chapter 4

Astrid slotted herself down in the corner booth next to Hiccup. After he had brought her clothes back for her earlier in the morning and then let her change alone in his and Fishlegs' room, they had decided to meet up with the rest of their friend group. They had chosen to meet up in a coffee shop on the campus that lots of students used to get assignments done when there were parties in the dorms or it was just too crowded to work. However, at the moment almost no one had started their courses so the coffee shop wasn't very busy. All of the gang would be starting their courses tomorrow which was good as it gave them a whole day to recover from the events of the previous night.

As Astrid sat down she felt a buzz in her pocket and quickly pulled out her phone, squinting in annoyance as she looked at the bright screen. It was a simple text from Ruff saying "_2 mins." _She looked over at Hiccup to see that he was staring down at his phone, he looked up at her and smiled.

"Ruff said that he and Snot will be here in a minute," Hiccup stated, causing Astrid to grimace at the mention of Snotlout. "You'll get used to him eventually," he carried on with a laugh after noticing her reaction.

"Maybe," she replied looking doubtful, "and Ruff said she'll be here in a sec too." The two of them hadn't spoken much that morning. Astrid knew that there was loads that Hiccup wanted to talk to her about as she felt the same, but he was being polite as he knew her head was still hurting and so he was giving it time to settle down before she was surrounded by the whole gang. Astrid found herself wishing that she had had more time to talk alone with Hiccup when the door to the coffee shop swung open and in walked Ruff and Fishlegs. Astrid noticed that Fishlegs' hand was grasped tightly in Ruff's for a second before they dropped hold of each other when they realised that Astrid had seen. Hiccup, however, remained oblivious.

* * *

"Good morning," Hiccup said as Fishlegs and Ruffnut sat down at the booth.

"Why have you got to be so damn loud," Ruff replied as she slumped over resting her head on the table.

"I take it you didn't have the best of nights," Astrid laughed.

"Oh the night was fine," Ruff mumbled into the table, "It's the bloody morning after that sucks."

"Your fault for drinking too much," Astrid taunted. Hiccup chuckled at her comment,

"You're one to talk," he said earning him a playful punch in the arm from Astrid.

"Whose side are you on," she teased back at him.

"Whichever side doesn't get me hit?" He joked back resulting in another punch from the blonde.

"Can you two stop flirting and can someone please get me a coffee," Ruff groaned as she looked up at Hiccup and Astrid.

"We weren't… Oh nevermind," Hiccup replied as he scooted past Astrid to get Ruff a coffee.

"Don't worry Hicc," he heard Fishlegs say as he got up, "I'll get it." And with that Fishlegs walked off over towards the counter as Hiccup slid back into his seat. He looked over at Ruff who had her head pressed to the table once more and noticed that her hair was a mess.

"Uh. Ruff," Hiccup said.

"What?" She growled back, obviously annoyed at being spoken to at this time.

"You, um. You've got something in your hair," He replied back, very cautious of being attacked by the angry. Ruff growled once more as she ran her fingers through her hair and pulled a twig out of the matted mess.

"I am never bloody sleeping outside again," she groaned.

"I've got a brush if you want to clean up in the bathroom," Astrid replied, looking over at her friend; despite trying to be helpful and not laugh at her friends state, Astrid couldn't stop a small smirk escaping her lips. Ruff slid out of the booth, heading towards the toilets without saying anything and Astrid flashed Hiccup a smile before following after her.

* * *

"That was quick," Astrid exclaimed to Ruff as she handed her the hairbrush.

"What do you mean?" Ruff replied, acting a lot less grouchy now that she was alone with Astrid.

"You and Fishlegs," Astrid said with a slight look of intrigue on her face, "I didn't think he was your type. You always went for the buff, burly, idiot jock types."

"What are you on about? There is nothing going on between me and Fish," Ruff quickly shot back.

"Really, cus it didn't seem like that the way you were holding his hand as you guys arrived." Ruffnut sighed and rubbed her eyes,

"Can you… like not. Tell anyone, you know?" Ruff asked quietly.

"Why?" Astrid asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know what is happening between me and Fish and I don't want the pressure of my brother or Hiccup or Snotlout knowing and making comments about it. And from what I learned about how shy Fish is last night; I don't think he wants that either."

"Your secret is safe with me, " Astrid promised, "it's what friends are for."

"Thanks," Ruff replied with a small smile.

"You have to tell me how it happened though," Astrid demanded from her friend.

"You were sat next to us almost all night, how did you not hear any of what we were saying?" Ruff asked, obviously annoyed that she had to explain it to Astrid.

"I was listening to Hiccup the whole time that I can remember," Astrid replied simply.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Ruff caved, "We talked a lot last night once we'd both had a few beers and we opened up a lot to one another. You know I've had boyfriends in the past and in months of dating I have never told them anything remotely deep about myself. Like most guys just look at me and see someone to have a one-night stand with. They look and just see my boobs or my… ya know. But Fish didn't look at me like that at all, the entirety of the night; even when we were drunk and so close to each other he just listened to me and told me about himself. I told him things I have only ever told you and it was more than just the alcohol. I felt like I could open up to him like he would listen and understand me. It probably sounds stupid. I mean I have only known him one night..."

"You can't help it," Astrid said after a few moments, "The heart wants what the heart wants. And if he is friends with someone as sweet as Hiccup I'm sure he is a great guy." Ruff laughed at her friend's response,

"You know you can't use everything to try and shoehorn in how much of a good guy Hiccup is," Ruffnut teased.

"You watch me," Astrid responded with a laugh as Ruffnut handed Astrid's hairbrush back to her. "We should probably get back out there before the boys wonder where we have gone, and I wouldn't want to keep you from your beloved Fishlegs any longer." Ruffnut lightly punched Astrid in the arm as she turned to her.

"Not a word." Astrid made a gesture with her hand to say "_my lips are sealed."_

* * *

Astrid and Ruff arrived back at the table at the same time a very haggard looking Snotlout and a very excited Tuffnut entered the coffee shop. Hiccup heard the telltale ding of the bell on the door and turned around from talking to Fishlegs to see the pair of boys head towards the counter to grab a coffee. They both headed over to the table right as Astrid slid in beside Hiccup and Ruff sat down next to Fishlegs. Snotlout was holding a large cup of coffee meanwhile Tuff had nothing in his hands. Tuff sat down beside Ruff while Snotlout made his way over to Astrid.

"Can you scooch over?" He asked the blonde. Not wishing to deal with sitting next to Snotlout and have him check her out at such close proximity stood up slightly and slid over Hiccups lap to sit the opposite side of him. Hiccup blushed profusely as she brushed past him but quickly recover when he saw the twins and Fishlegs begin to smirk at him.

"You can't get away from our obvious attraction that easily baby," Snotlout teased with a smile causing Astrid to grimace.

"Try anything and you'll have hot coffee all over that nice clean shirt of yours," Astrid replied causing Hiccup to smile.

Seeking to change the subject before anybody got violent Fishlegs turned to Tuffnut and asked,

"Hey Tuff, how come you didn't get a coffee."

"Well my dear Fishy," Tuff replied, "As a member of the great and powerful Thorston family I do not need to drink coffee to recover from a headac…"

"He's already drunk four cups," Snotlout cut him off with a snort.

"You had to ruin it," Tuff replied with a scowl.

"Yes I did," Snotlout laughed back at him.

Tuff growled at him and looked like he was about to jump across the table before Hiccup chimed in,

"How about we talk about something where no one gets angry and tries to fight each other," he suggested, "What courses are you all signed up for?" Astrid was the first to speak up,

"I'm doing a major in Civil Law and a minor in Wildlife Management." Ruffnut was next to speak,

"I'm majoring in English and doing an Education minor."

"I'm doing a major in Computing with a minor in Chemistry," Fishlegs said right after Ruff. By the end of the quick discussion they had learnt that Tuff was majoring in Digital Media with a minor in Music; Snotlout was doing a major in Sports Science with no minor as the course required a lot of time to be spent on it; and Hiccup was majoring in Mechanical Engineering and like Astrid was also minoring in Wildlife Management.

"That's a bit of a weird mix dude," was Snotlout's first comment about Hiccups choices causing a variety of agreement from the rest of the gang. Hiccup got a little flustered at this comment and it was Astrid who came to his defence.

"He can choose what he wants to do. There is no reason to question him on what he enjoys," she scolded them. They didn't say anything more and Hiccup was glad. He didn't really feel like explaining to them the fact that he had been almost forced to do an engineering course by his father. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy engineering, heck he had spent many years of his life tinkering with cars and car parts in Gobber's workshop; He just had other things he was interested in and wanted to do. But as his dad had only agreed to pay for his University degree if he did a major in some kind of Engineering, he had chosen Mechanical Engineering as the best of all the evils.

* * *

The gang talked for a while longer before they slowly began filtering out back to their dorm rooms to rest and get prepared for their first lessons the next day; until it was just Astrid and Hiccup left in the booth. She was glad that they had some alone time where she was actually up for talking after she had all but recovered from her hangover-induced headache. Astrid sipped on her new cup of hot chocolate that she had got (or more accurate Hiccup had got her) when she had finished her coffee. Hiccup smiled at her and she returned the gesture feeling really warm inside.

"Thank you," Hiccup randomly blurted out.

"For what?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Defending my choice of course when they all asked about it," he replied.

"Oh," she exclaimed, "It was nothing. I just saw you looked a little uncomfortable so ya know…"

"Yeah," Hiccup returned as he laced his fingers together behind his head in a gesture to show his awkwardness with the subject. Astrid wanted to ask why he was so uncomfortable with something as trivial as his choice of subjects but she didn't want to fluster Hiccup so she put it to the side. "_Another time,"_ Astrid thought to herself.

They talked for a while more until Astrid had finished her drink. At which point she decided that despite the fact she wanted to stay and chat to Hiccup more she had to get relaxed, rested, and ready for her first classes so she stood up to leave; prompting him to do the same.

"Well we should probably go now so that we can get ready for the start of our courses," she said.

"Yeah we should," Hiccup agreed, "I can walk you back to the dorm, Milady," he carried on with a playful smile, "Wouldn't want a damsel like you to have to go around all alone in the big, scary, wide world."

"Oh my hero," Astrid giggled back pretending to faint before playfully punching Hiccup on the shoulder.

"Owww!" Hiccup exclaimed jokily, "Perhaps you are not so much of a damsel," he carried on with a chuckle.

"You know it brother," Astrid replied with a laugh.

* * *

** Another chapter under the belt. Another chapter that I really enjoyed writing even if not much happened in it. Just the interactions between characters are really exciting for me to write and helps me to feel like I am building the world so that any drama that happens (and yes there will be drama coming) has more effect.**

**Any reviews or constructive criticism is really helpful and helps motivate me to write more. So if you want more chapters make sure to write a comment :)**

**P.S. The University system in this world is purely made up by me so before anyone goes off about how it doesn't fit Universities in real life, it isn't supposed to because it gives me more flexibility with what happens on the courses and makes my job writing the story a lot easier.**

**See you in the next one,**

\- Pluckycross


	5. Chapter 5

The first week went past very quickly for Astrid and most of the rest of the gang. She learned the rooms she would be in for the rest of the semester for each of her courses, as well as the places that all the clubs she had signed up for met and what days they met on. Currently, she was in the gym working hard on the treadmill, training for Track club that she had decided was the most important out of all of her sports. She had also made the decision after meeting a very unsavoury black haired girl on the Netball team what she was going to drop that too. There was no way that Astrid would be able to work with that girl. Astrid had already shown her natural aptitude with football as well as the fact she very much enjoyed the sport; it was another team that she had decided she would stick with. And swimming had turned out to be more of a chilled club. The university wasn't big on swimming and so the coach had decided that whilst she would still be entering girls into some competitions, they would not be taking it as seriously as top-level swim teams. Astrid had decided that she would take a few more weeks to see if she enjoyed swimming enough to stay the course.

She pressed the button on the treadmill, causing it to speed up a bit more. Astrid's legs were beginning to tire now but she had to stay on it for a bit longer to meet her daily goal so as she always did, she powered through the rapidly increasing pain until at last the timer on her phone went off indicating she was done for the day. Around the same time, Ruffnut came wandering over from the rowing machine to see Astrid, who was now sat down on a bench drinking from her water bottle and recovering from the activity.

"Sup Strid," Ruff greeted Astrid in her usual way.

"Hey," Astrid replied.

"You coming to watch the movie tonight?" Ruff asked. Astrid raised her eyebrow at her friend.

"What movie?"

"Hiccup and Fishlegs just got their TV set up in their room and they invited everyone else around to watch a movie on Netflix tonight," Ruff explained, "Why? I thought Hiccup would have told you about it."

"Yeah," Astrid replied rather annoyed, "I guess they don't want me there."

"I'm sure it's not like that, perhaps he just forgot to tell you."

"Perhaps," Astrid replied, obviously not convinced.

"We should get going, they said to meet them at their dorm at half 6."

"You go ahead," Astrid said, "I'll be right behind you."

* * *

"We ready to start?" Fishlegs turned to Hiccup and asked. Snotlout was lounging on the floor in front of Hiccup's bed and Tuffnut was currently sat on Fishlegs' bed staring at his phone.

"Yeah come on Hicc," Snotlout cut in, "I'm getting bored of waiting."

"We will in a sec," Hiccup replied, "We are just waiting for Ruff and Astrid."

"How do you know they are even coming?" Snotlout asked.

"Ruff said she would be here," Fishlegs chimed in. Right on cue, there was a knock at the door. Hiccup opened it to reveal Ruff stood behind the door with a pillow and a bag of popcorn in her hand.

"Popcorn me, sis," Tuff called out from across the room as he had looked up from his phone and Ruff threw the bag at him; which he proceeded to rip open and pull a handful of popcorn out.

"Hey Ruff," Hiccup greeted her politely.

"Afternoon Hicc," she replied, using the nickname that most of the gang had adopted when referring to the green-eyed, auburn-haired boy.

"Where is Astrid?" He asked, obviously confused by her absence.

"I don't know," Ruff replied, "I saw her at the gym and she said she would follow after me but I haven't seen her since. She seemed kinda bummed that neither of you told her." A look of surprise spread across Hiccup's face.

"I texted her about it last night?" He exclaimed, obviously surprised.

"Oh, well she never got the text."

"Well I'm gonna go find her then," he stated. Snotlout sounded like he was about to make a comment about having to wait. "Don't wait up for me," Hiccup carried on, dissuading any complaints from the rest of the gang and with that he pulled his jacket off the back of the door and headed off to look for Astrid.

* * *

Astrid was sat down on a bench in the middle of the large fielded area on the campus, still dressed in her gym clothes. She had yet to go back to her dorm to get changed as she didn't want Ruff to see her and drag her off to watch the movie that she hadn't been told about. She just felt like she was unwanted with the rest of the gang and even though she knew she was probably overreacting and that they had just forgotten to tell her she couldn't shake those nagging feelings.

It was an unfamiliar feeling for Astrid. Throughout high school, she had always been invited to everything as she was one of the most popular girls in the school; along with Ruffnut. She had never really experienced the feeling of unwantedness as everyone had always been vying for her attention and whilst she was happy she had gotten away from that atmosphere, she was having a hard time dealing with the fact that she may be unwanted in the gang.

It was getting dark and the wind was getting colder now. As much as Astrid didn't want to have to face her doubts at that moment she realised that soon the weather would force her too. Astrid shivered slightly as a cold gust of wind blew over her exposed arms and legs. She decided it was time to go somewhere indoors but still didn't want to go back to her dorm, so she got up and began walking towards the student common room. She heard someone calling out somewhere behind her but paid no notice to it until they drew closer and she realised the voice was familiar and that it was calling out her name. Astrid turned around and looked back along the path to see a very out of breath looking Hiccup running towards her.

"What up Astrid," he called out and she paused where she was stood. Wondering why he was out here instead of watching the movie with the rest of them. He drew up beside her and spent a few seconds recovering, breathing heavily with his hands on his knees before he spoke.

"I walked around the whole campus and all this time you were just over here," he laughed slightly gesturing to how close the block of dorms was to where they now were.

"Why are you out here Hiccup?" Astrid asked, the question coming out more harshly that she wanted it to.

"I could ask you the same thing," Hiccup replied.

"Wouldn't you rather be in watching the film with everyone else instead of out here with the one no one wants?" She questioned as Hiccup's face turned to one of absolute confusion.

"Where did you get this ridiculous idea that we don't want you?" Hiccup said, his voice more serious now.

"Well for starters no one invited me or even told me about this whole gang meet up we were having."

"Astrid I texted you last night about it," Hiccup replied pulling out his phone and gesturing to the most recent text he had sent her. "_Hey Astrid, we are all planning to watch a movie tonight at my and Fish's dorm. I'd love it if you came." _"And on top of that, I am out here in this bloody freezing cold weather to come and get you. We do want you, Astrid. I'm sorry that I may have made you feel otherwise but there will never be a time that we... That I don't want you." He smiled hesitantly at her and finally, she felt like she could return the gesture.

"I'm sorry I overreacted," she said to him, "I don't know what was wrong with me. I made such a big deal over nothing."

"It's alright," Hiccup reassured her as he broadened his smile slightly, "Are you sure this isn't related to anything else?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, I was just being stupid," Astrid replied smiling at Hiccup.

"Okay," he said, not entirely convinced, "If there is ever anything you need to talk about you know I'm here right?"

"I know."

"Good… We should probably get back now." Hiccup said to her and she nodded in reply.

"Yeah we should, it is really cold out here," she agreed with him, shivering slightly as another gust of wind blew. Without saying anything, Hiccup pulled his jacket off and wrapped around her shoulder as he smiled at her. She smiled back and together they walked back to the dorms.

Secretly, there was another reason she may have overreacted. But Astrid wasn't ready to talk about that with anyone yet.

* * *

** A bit of a shorter one this time as I didn't want to stretch out what I think the boundaries of the chapters should be. They start where they start and end where they end and as long as the word count isn't tiny I don't mind posting a shorter chapter.**

**Just a notice but I thought I would start responding to comments and answering any questions you guys/gals post or just thanking you for your kind words. I will probably do either 2 short comments or 1 longer comment per chapter starting now :)**

"ok so I am someone who really loves this AU, but I have a couple things to say. first as someone who has watched and read many drama's I would like to ask very nicely could the drama you said will be coming not involve engadgements or pregnancy's. I was going to say I would love it if there was no love triangles or fights but like I said I know drama and with drama comes those things. and I would also like to say that this AU is really interesting and I love it." - HTTYDFanGirl22

**I am glad you are enjoying it so far. With regards to the drama, I will most likely be steering clear of any pregnancies (especially to do with Hiccup and Astrid) simply because I don't really enjoy reading or writing HTTYD fanfics with pregnancies in them. With regards to the type of drama that will be going on, as much as it will hurt my heart to write like it will hurt yours to read, there will be fights and falling outs and some bad stuff that happens between Hiccup and Astrid and also between Ruff and Fishlegs (although less so for them). However, in the end, everything will turn out just the way it is meant to be. Thank you for your comment and I hope I have answered any questions you may have had in your head. :)**

**As always any reviews or constructive criticism is always welcome.**

**See you in the next one,**

-Pluckycross


	6. Chapter 6

Hiccup was sat in the library pining over his coursework for his Wildlife Management minor when Astrid came in. He didn't notice her at first until she sat down next to him and coughed very loudly. He looked up with a surprised expression and smiled.

"I thought you weren't coming?" He said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah well I've decided that I prefer studying with you to Swim club," she replied flashing him back a smile.

"Is it really that bad?" He joked back at her earning a laugh and a small playful punch from her.

"I'm starting to regret my decision," she replied jokingly.

"You'll make me cry," he jested back at her as he sniffled in mock sadness.

"Oh little baby, don't cry. Come, let Astrid make it better." Hiccup looked up at her and snorted so loudly that he almost fell backwards of his chair and this sent Astrid into a laughing fit until they were both breathless from laughter.

"Perhaps that is enough joking around for now," she suggested, still smiling broadly.

The two of them eventually got down to actually working after they had messed about a little while longer. Hiccup had switched over to doing some coursework for his Mechanical Engineering whilst Astrid worked on her work for her Civil Law course. They had agreed to work together on the Wildlife Management work as neither of them really understood it and could both use the support of one another. But for the moment they laboured on through their current work, occasionally getting up to grab a book that contained the information they needed from around the library.

* * *

Astrid was the first to finish her coursework and she leaned back in her chair popping her earphones in and pulling out her phone to choose some music. She eventually settled on "Into a Fantasy." by one of her favourite artists, Alexander Rybak, and settled down to wait for Hiccup to finish. Astrid couldn't help but look over at Hiccup as she listened to the song. The watched him as he worked: the way he chewed on his pen or stuck his tongue out slightly as he thought about his work. Her mind began to wander off into his eyes as she stared at the forest of green that was his irises, as the song blared in her head. "I will be with you every step. Heyy. Heyy. Tonight I found a friend in you. And I'll keep you close forever."

Astrid found herself wishing, wanting, hoping she could keep Hiccup in her life and began to wander further in the contours of his face; it may have not been perfect by other girls standards of beauty, but by God to her, his face was the most perfect things she thought she had ever seen. Astrid was brought back to reality by Hiccup waving his hand in front of her face. And smiling at her.

"Earth to Astrid," he said with a chuckled.

"Yeah, um sorry, I was just daydreaming," she laughed back slightly awkwardly.

"No problem, I know my sheer gorgeousness can be quite captivating" Hiccup teased back resulting in a punch from Astrid and her telling him playfully to shut up. "Anyways," he carried on, "I am done with my Engineering coursework so do you want to get started on the Wildlife Management stuff,"

"Not particularly," Astrid admitted, "But I'd rather get it done so we can relax for the movie tonight."

"Yea me too," Hiccup replied.

With that said they both got stuck into the work set for them; grabbing loads of textbooks that may help them understand the topic better and discussing their ideas till eventually, at long last, they figured out what was going on and could get on with the work. They worked for about half an hour before they had both almost finished the set work and they began to mess about a bit more with each other. The focussed working turned to messing about as they chucked jokes and banter back and forth between each other. Accomplishing nothing for their course. Astrid noticed something when they eventually calmed down from their fit of acting childish and having a good time. The black haired girl that she had met on her first and only Netball club meeting, the one who she had an immediate aversion to, was staring directly at Hiccup from across the room and listening in to their loud antics. She made eye contact with Astrid and almost at once she smirked then got up and headed across the room, in a direct beeline for Hiccup.

* * *

"Hey Hiccup," a random girl greeted him. her voice sickly-sweet with the impression of a forced demeanour. She was stood right in front of where Hiccup was sat and was looking directly at him, completely ignoring Astrid.

"Hey?" he politely returned the greeting, although somewhat confused, "Do I know you?"

"Well not yet silly," she laughed with that same forced, sickly-sweet tone, "But I hope you will soon." She winked at him causing Astrid to growl slightly under her breath.

"How do you know my name then?"

"I overheard it whilst you two were talking," she said, finally acknowledging Astrid as she turned slightly to look at the blonde girl, her face going bitter for a moment before returning to its normal unnatural happiness. "I thought you looked a bit uncomfortable, so I came over to ask if you wanted to get out of here. I'm Heather by the way."

Hiccup recognised her name almost immediately. He had heard whispers in the corridors already about the black haired girl followed by lots of unflattering language used to describe her personality. He had heard that despite her lovely persona and (some would say) beautiful appearance; she was rather the opposite in terms of character. It amazed Hiccup how someone could get a reputation like that so quickly. He had also heard one other thing that unsettled him now; that she had an unusual crush with some semi-dorky kid.

He didn't realise that the entire time he had been thinking, Heather had been stood waiting for a reply from him until Astrid replied for him.

"I think he is just fine where he is," she said with a tone of malice in her voice, "in fact the two of us were just about to leave."

"I think he can speak for himself hun," Heather replied in a mocking voice causing Astrid to bristle up.

"He doesn't need to speak for himself, it is obvious he won't be leaving with you. He has plans already," Astrid spat back.

"I'm sure he'd rather spend time with me than you, little miss boring," Heather stated back. Finally, Hiccup seemed to find his words and as Astrid went to snap something back at Heather he cut her off.

"Actually, I wouldn't." He stated definitively, "I would rather spend time with Astrid and my friends." Heather looked shocked as he stared at Hiccup, almost as if no one had ever said no to her before. "Shall we go?" he turned to Astrid and asked. She nodded smugly in reply as she gathered up her things. Then together they stood up and walked out of the library.

Astrid linked her arm through Hiccup's as they walked away from the dumbfounded girl.

* * *

**Another relatively short one but hey, we finally get to meet Heather so that is good. I had problems with my last update actually showing as an update so make sure to check out the previous chapter if you missed it. And for all you Heather lovers out there, don't you worry. Whilst now she is a really mean (nice way to put it) character and will cause some big problems for Hiccup and Astrid. Eventually, she will become the RTTE Heather who is friends with all of the gang and who we all know and love. It will just take some time.**

**As always reviews are appreciated and really help to motivate me :)**

**All the best,**

-Pluckycross


	7. Chapter 7

The next few months passed by in the blink of an eye for most of the student. Week in week out it was work mixed with the occasional party and not much else. The gang continued to work on their courses with the occasional study session in the library and their, now, weekly routine of watching a movie at Hiccup and Fishlegs' dorm. The November test week passed without much of an effect on any of them as it was a very laid back test week, being the first for all the courses.

Soon after Snoggletog passed as well; with almost no one going home to see parents and family due to the fact that the winter came on hard that year and many people couldn't make it off campus. So they hunkered down together in the dorms and common rooms of the dorms for the snow and ice to pass for a week or so. Eventually, February had rolled around and they were beginning to wind down before their first holiday of the year they would get to spend off campus.

Over the few months time, the gang tightened up together becoming much better friends and much more tolerant of each other quirks till eventually, no one seemed to notice Snotlout's bragging or Tuffnut's idiotic behaviour or Astrid's violent (albeit toned back for her friends) gestures. They had truly grown into a very close friend group. But out of all people in the group, it was Hiccup and Astrid who had grown the closest of all.

Astrid found herself telling Hiccup things she had only ever told to Ruffnut before as she began to regard him more and more as one of her best friends, if not her best friend. Speaking of her best friend, Astrid had also noticed that Ruff had begun to spend more and more time with Fishlegs and Astrid had found herself smiling a couple of times at the thought of Ruff finally getting in a relationship with a guy who truly cared for her as a person; it was what her friend deserved. Anyways, Astrid and Hiccup had become really comfortable with each other over the course of the moths and it was not uncommon for Hiccup to show up to Astrid's clubs to show his best friend some support in her practice and even the few races she had participated in and won, of course. Everything seemed like it was leading towards the coupling off of two members of the gang who everyone else had seen as inevitable for the longest time. But of course; life had to get in the way.

* * *

Astrid's heart was beating heavily and her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest as she crossed over the finish line. The coach blew the whistle and wandered over to her as she recovered from her run. Her legs felt like lead but that was to be expected when she had just run 3000 metres.

"Well done Miss Hofferson," the coach's voice boomed, "you were a whole 5 seconds faster than your personal best. Keep up the good work and you will be ready for state races in no time." Astrid smiled on the outside at the praise but secretly within she was scolding herself. She knew she could do much better she just had to work harder to achieve it.

When she had finally recovered enough to think a bit more she looked up towards the stands and noticed something strange. Hiccup wasn't there. The spot where he usually sat alone to watch her run and cheer her on was empty, she felt a small tinge of sadness in her chest but it quickly went away. "_He probably had some work to do,"_ Astrid thought to herself before the coaches whistle pulled back her attention to the task at hand.

"Ready to go again Hofferson?" He asked.

She was.

Thirty minutes later a very tired and very sweaty Astrid wandered out of the fenced of racetrack towards the changing rooms that were situated in a large block about 100 metres away from the track. Her mind wandered away from where she was and she began to think about why Hiccup hadn't shown up to watch her practice. She was sure that he was just busy doing work but usually, when he had work to do he would just come and do it outside whilst watching her, perhaps he was ill, he had to be ill, there didn't seem like any other reason he would blow her off. She resolved to go to his dorm after she got changed to check on him as she pushed open the glass doors of the changing block.

She headed towards the girls changing room, down the long room that resembled the inside of an indoor pool as it linked on to the schools' fitness centre which had a swimming pool in it. Astrid was about to turn the corner when she stopped, seeing two people just down the hall from her. One, she recognised immediately as Hiccup and the other she realised, after a moment, was Heather. Hiccup was pressed up against the wall, his face hidden to Astrid, with Heather's arms on either side of him. He had a bundle of daffodils in his hand that was drooped down at his side. Astrid perhaps would have noticed how uncomfortable his stance looked but she could only focus on their heads as Heather leaned in and kissed Hiccup (the Hiccup she thought liked her and whom she liked) on the lips. She didn't need to stay any longer.

* * *

_2 hours earlier_

"I can't do it any more Fish," Hiccup said as he laid out on his bed staring up at the ceiling. Fishlegs was leaning over his desk working on some of his Chemistry work whilst half listening to Hiccups rambles. "I can't pretend like all I want to be with Astrid is a friend… Not when I want so much more…"

"Why don't you just tell her then Hicc," Fish replied absentmindedly.

"How can I tell her. I mean what if she doesn't like me back? What if it ruins our friendship?" Hiccup said, voicing his deepest worries out loud to which Fishlegs audibly scoffed.

"We are talking about the same Astrid right?" He asked rhetorically, "the Astrid who quite clearly has a crush on you."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked.

"For someone who constantly calls Snot a muttonhead you are just as bad of a muttonhead," Fishlegs replied with a laugh, "seriously dude, just think about how Astrid acts around you compared to the rest of us. It is more than obvious that she is into you."

"That is just because I am closer to her than everyone else is," Hiccup said.

"Exactly," Fishlegs replied, "And the reason she let you get that close to her and know so much about her is that she likes you."

"As a friend."

"A more than a friend."

"I don't know." Hiccup replied sceptically.

"When have I ever lied to you dude?" Fishlegs asked, "Just think about it all." With that Fishlegs got up from the desk and headed towards the door,

"I'll give you some free time so you can ponder over it... and, hopefully, just ask her out already."

Hiccup did think it over. In fact, he thought it over and over and over and over again up until the point where the only thoughts in her head were Astrid-related thoughts. Her face, her laugh, her smile, her personality, her sense of humour, the way she showed affection bu punching him lightly. All the things he like, no he loved about her. And how she acted towards him, the jokes, the openness, the messing about. But surely they were just friends right. She couldn't like him as anything more. I mean he was Hiccup and she was Astrid. He was a screw-up and she was perfect. He was the nerdy kid and she was the beautiful athlete. But he was the nerdy kid who the beautiful athlete always talked to; the screw-up who the perfect girl always made time for; and the Hiccup who Astrid always opened up to.

She couldn't like him, she couldn't, but maybe, she could.

By the time he had quieted his mind, it was almost 8'o'clock and he had missed almost all of Astrid's practice. But in all this time he had come up with one revolutionary thought. Perhaps Astrid Hofferson did like him. It was a gamble but all the evidence Fishlegs had given him and his mind had come up with pointed towards that exact conclusion. That the girl of his dreams actually liked him back the same way he liked her. It made him both incredibly happy and extremely nervous at the same time. As he walked alone across campus towards the changing rooms where he had decided to surprise her and talk to her about his feelings, he picked a few of the newly flowering daffodils from around the campus (they were Astrid's favourite), gathered up every ounce of courage he had in his body, and walked into the changing block. Taking up a position leant against the wall outside the girls changing room.

After about ten minutes he looked down at his phone. "_Astrid's practice just finished, she should be here any minute now." _He thought to himself, "_I hope that the daffodils keep her from killing me long enough to explain why I didn't show up."_ A second later, he heard the door to the girls changing room click open and a black-haired girl who he had very little like for came wandering out. She saw the flowers in Hiccup's hand and immediately turned to face him.

"Oh Hiccup, how did you know daffodils are my favourite?" She said batting her eyelids at him and drawing closer, "You are such a romantic."

"They're not for you Heather," he said calmly back at her although the situation was starting to make him feel uncomfortable. She had changed her position so her arms were either side of his head, boxing him in."They're for Astrid."

"Oh, just forget about that slag," Heather said venomously back as she leaned in and shoved her lips onto his. He was too shocked by what Heather had just called Astrid to stop her. But he didn't, he would never, kiss back.

* * *

Astrid spun around on her heel. She needed to get out of there. Her emotions were running wild and she could hardly think, as tears started to well up in her eyes. But none fell. "_Hoffersons don't cry."_ She thought he liked her, she had fallen for him and there he was. Missing her practice to hand out with and then kiss Heather, the girl she disliked most in the world. She knew there must be a reasonable explanation but she didn't want to hear it right now, not from him. She needed something else, someone else.

She headed back over to the racetrack and immediately spotted him. Eret. He was muttonhead much like Snotlout; six foot one with massive bulging muscles; the kind of guy who would be on the rugby team and be followed around by a bunch of lackeys; the kind of guy who would treat you poorly and not care about your emotions; the kind of guy who only wanted sex from girls and only dated girls for their bodies.

He was the exact opposite of her type.

He was everything Hiccup was not.

But everything Hiccup was not, was what she needed right now.

* * *

**Well this hurt to write. Guess we will have to wait a little longer for Hiccup and Astrid to get together and that sweet, sweet Hiccstrid fluff we all love.**

**Comments are really appreciated as I like to know what you guys think about the story. :)**

**Till the next one,**

-Pluckycross


	8. Chapter 8

"Go!"

The word left Hiccups mouth louder than anything he had ever said before. Heather's face was just inches from him yet he practically screamed it at her.

"Come on Hicc," she said seemingly unfazed, "you know you enjoyed it."

"Fucking go!" It came out just as harsh as before. "And never fucking call me that again. That name is reserved for my friends. Something you never have and never will be." This appeared to shake Heather, his voice or the animalistic mask that was overtaking his face he couldn't tell which. But ultimately they got what he wanted, her expression faltered then quickly changed to one of shock as she gathered herself up and practically bolted around the corner and out of the changing block. Suddenly all of his anger rushed out of him, taking all of his other emotions out with it.

His hand drooped open and the daffodils fell to the floor, quickly followed by Hiccup as he slid down the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest. This head drooped into his legs and a soft wave of tears overtook him, dripping quietly down onto his lap as he sobbed almost inaudibly. He felt so exhausted, so done, and so sad. His first kiss, the one he had dreamed about having with Astrid, had been taken from him. Stolen by a thief who did not deserve it and he was left with nothing. He couldn't tell Astrid how he felt now, not tonight, not now.

Hiccup sat there for what had to be hours his head in his hands, soft, dry tears slipping out of his eyes, as he thought and overthought everything. Would she even want him now that he had been tainted by Heather? I mean it's not like he had actually kissed her, she had forced herself upon him. He knew if he told Astrid she would probably kill Heather but if he wanted to be with her he would have to tell her. Gods, he felt so useless and weak at the moment.

Hiccup sat there for a long time, hoping that soon the fierce blonde girl who he adored would come trudging around the corner but she never did, and eventually he gave up his dreaming.

He was only brought out of his mind when the Janitor rounded the corner and shot him a very surprised look.

"Uh lad…" the Janitor began, "You can't stay here. I'm just about to lock up."

"Oh yeah, sorry." Hiccup tried to laugh it off but ultimately failed as his brain had no strength to form laughter at the moment. He slowly picked himself off the floor and began to trudge, what seemed like, the very long distance back to his dorm room.

* * *

The light of the morning sun glared in accusingly through the blinds of their room. Its judgement stopping directly on the eyes of Astrid Hofferson. She winced and tried to roll over but that only seemed to anger the light and it shone more brightly at her.

"You can't stay in bed all day Strid," Ruff said to her friend from across the room.

"I can and I may just do that," Astrid snapped back, unusually angry this morning for reasons she did not know. Suddenly it all came back to her, the events of last night. Seeing Hiccup kissing Heather; crossing the racetrack and shoving her lips onto Eret's; his disgusting, lustful stare as he looked her up and down, licking his lips; the meathead comments he made before he asked her out; and the fact that she said yes.

She had said yes. She was dating Eret. Hiccup was with Heather. She hated everything about all of this but she couldn't deal with being alone and watching Hiccup with someone else, so Eret would have to do. The kiss was a mistake, an angry mistake, but she vowed at that moment she would do nothing more with him. She didn't love him. She would never love him. In her heart, she held someone else; but she was not in his heart. So she couldn't be around him anymore, couldn't stay with the gang. It would hurt her too much. It would kill her.

Because Hiccup should be hers.

If only Astrid had known.

* * *

Hiccup hadn't slept. His hair was more of a mess than usual and his eyes were raw and bitter with the remnants of his tears. Thankfully Fishlegs hadn't woken up when he arrived back late the night before and had left quietly earlier in the morning, thinking Hiccup was asleep. He hadn't been. He couldn't sleep. But at least he wouldn't have to explain his state to Fish, as much as he loved his friend there was only one person he wanted to talk to now. So he got out of bed, not even bothering to change his clothes and lumbered into the corridor, heading towards Astrid door.

His knocks were quiet as he couldn't field the energy to knock with vigour.

"Who is it?" he heard Ruffnut call out from through the door. Hiccup slumped sideways leaning on the wooden frame and called out,

"It's Hiccup. I need to speak to Astrid." There was the sound of hushed discussion behind the door as Hiccup closed his eyes and tried to rest at least slightly before seeing his friend.

"I'm sorry Hicc," he heard Ruff call back, "she's not here."

"Do you have any idea where she is?" he managed to muster in reply. He heard what he thought was a gasp from Ruff then she finally replied,

"She's umm. She's out with her new boyfriend."

Boyfriend.

The word bit into his head like a poisonous viper. Chewing on what was left of his brain and spitting out terrible thoughts and emotions. He barely managed to make it back to his room and close the door behind himself before the ground gave way beneath him and he found himself curled up in her ball on the floor. Tears once more ran freely from his already abused eyes and shivering wracked his body. But worst of all.

Where his heart should have been, he felt nothing.

* * *

The gang didn't see much of Astrid for weeks past that point. She stopped coming to the weekly movies for fear of having to confront Hiccup. Started hanging out with Eret and his friends, though she was still nothing like him. Astrid never met Hiccup for study sessions past that point and always rushed out of the Wildlife Management lectures to avoid him. And it hurt.

Gradually, Hiccup began to improve. He was still rarely as happy as he had been before but after that first day when Fishleg had found him curled in a ball on the floor of their room crying, he had been getting better. It was slow and painful to try and get over the fact that it seemed as though Astrid hated him now. He didn't know why. Perhaps Eret was making her avoid him but she would never allow that if she still cared for him. So the only explanation he could come up with was that she hated him now.

The gang missed having Astrid around almost as much as Hiccup did. Everyone knew that there was something, someone missing when they met up. But it was much worse for Hiccup. He felt like he had lost a part of himself.

He never realised Astrid felt the same way.

Until, the gang's trip to the lake in March.

* * *

**Another short one with a short bit from me at the end as it is both hard for me to write these types of chapters (because they hurt me to write) and because I don't want to flood the bottom of chapters like these with loads of my comments. But rest assured, the problems will all be resolved soon. Very soon ;)**

**Thank you for all the support and comments. They are always appreciated and I love to read them so don't stop sending.**

**There is more to come,**

-Pluckycross


	9. Chapter 9

"My Uncle said we can use his cabin for the entire week if we want to," Fishlegs told the rest of the group. The gang, minus Astrid, were all sat in the booth where they had first met up as a large group. It had become one of their frequent meeting points where they would come to discuss things. Currently, they were planning a vacation to the lake district of Berk when the March holidays began in a few days.

"And we can drive up there in my van and Snot's car," Tuffnut carried on.

"So we are all agreed that we are going to stay in the cabin for a week then?" Ruff asked the groups, receiving a chorus of agreement from all members present besides Hiccup. He had his head in his hands and was looking very preoccupied.

"Hiccup?" He heard Ruff ask him and the sprung to sit up.

"What… Oh yeah," He replied. "What about Astrid?" He added without realising what he had said and a second later it hit him and the rest of the gang looked over at him. Ruffnut smiled deviously,

"Yeah. I'll make her come," she said as her smile widened.

"We should all start getting ready to go," Fishlegs stated and the group dispersed, heading back to their dorms one by one.

* * *

"You are coming," Ruffnut stated her voice strong and unwavering, "You have spent too long avoiding us, Strid. You haven't talked to me properly in weeks. I don't care what is happening with you and that thing you are dating. You are coming to the cabin with us for the week."

Astrid tried to argue back. She didn't know whether she could face Hiccup yet. If she could ever face him again. Ruffnut was glaring at her as she sat in silence and finally after a few moments she spoke,

"Fine. I'll come," she caved, "But. I am going up in the opposite care to Hiccup." Ruffnut looked over at his friend dumbstruck.

"I don't know what happened between you two but you are going to have to talk to him at some point Strid. He is super bummed that you left. You would know if you had actually spoken to me instead of always avoiding me."

"Oh, I'm sure he is," Astrid replied, her voice was way colder than she had intended, "You have my terms. Take them or leave them."

"Fine," Ruff replied, "You can come in the car with me and Tuff. We leave on Friday."

* * *

Hiccup handed his bag off to Tuffnut, who was packing them inside of his van as it had a massive boot. Hiccup and Fishlegs' cases were pretty normal sizes but Ruff and Snotlout looked like they were going away for years, the amount of stuff they had brought.

"Are we ready to go? Or?" Tuff called out to his sister.

"She'll be here in a second," Ruff called back and, as if on cue, Astrid walked out of the dorms with a bag in her hand and earphones pushed deep into her ears. She glared at Hiccup as she walked past him and handed her bag off to Tuff before opening the door at the side of Tuff's van and clambering in. There was a loud bumping noise as she slammed it shut behind her.

Hiccup was so shocked at her attitude towards him that he couldn't move. He was finding it difficult to breathe. Sure she had been avoiding him for weeks but this was completely different, she was acting as though she completely hated him. It was almost too much for him to hand, his legs were starting to feel weak. Luckily for him, Fishlegs noticed his peril and walked over to his friend before helping him into the backseat of Snotlouts car. He then took his place up front in the car next to Snot, who was driving. A single tear fell unceremoniously out of Hiccup's eye and rolled down his face.

The girl he loved. Hated him.

Or so he thought

* * *

She had been too harsh to Hiccup, she knew it. But it was the only way her body had learned to cope with these feelings which she hated. To put up a wall and pretend like she didn't care for him and like nothing he did affected her. It wasn't healthy but it was better than crying. "_Hoffersons don't cry,"_ she heard her father's words ringing in her head like the cool sound of a hammer on a steel anvil. She cringed at the cruel simplicity of his voice.

Looking out of the window just before they set off, Astrid could see Hiccup as he was escorted Snotlout's car by Fishlegs and she even saw what she thought was a tear fall from Hiccups eye. "_That is impossible," _she thought to herself, "_he doesn't care about me."_

She had never been more wrong in her life.

* * *

The journey to the lake district took a few hours, in which time Hiccup had put in his music to drown out the voices in his head and all but got over the earlier encounter with Astrid. He didn't feel excited or happy when they pulled up through the dirt roads of the woods to the cabin where they would be spending the next week, he just felt empty. Like he had the day he found out Astrid had a boyfriend. Slowly, Hiccup made his way out of the car and looked up a the cabin. It looked magnificent; made of wood and glass and though it wasn't massive it looked to be just the right size. It had two floors with a balcony on the second floor and from what Fishlegs had told them around the back there was a grassy area with a path that led down to a lovely beach on the lake shore.

As Tuff pulled up in his van, he jumped out to stretch his legs and looked around amazed.

"Wow, it looks amazing here. Your uncle is a smart man to buy real estate here Fishy," he called out as he continued to explore around.

"Thanks," Fish called back, "We should probably go inside, pick bedrooms and get our stuff unpacked." Ruffnut was apparently already ahead of Fishlegs, as she had pulled everyone's bags out of the van already and left them in a pile on the ground. One by one they walked over, picked up their bags and headed up into the house. Hiccup was the last to grab his things and head in, way behind Astrid and the rest of the gang.

He dumped his bag on the floor of the large living room as he couldn't be bothered to fight over rooms. He was way too tired physically and emotionally at the moment for that. So he resigned himself to taking whichever room no one else wanted and settled down on the sofa, closing his eyes slightly. He would have loved to nap but there was something that he needed to do.

* * *

Astrid dragged her bag up the stairs and into the first empty room she could find before quickly, yet somehow still quite meticulously, unpacking her clothes and laying them out in the drawers of one of the cupboards. She then pulled out her laptop and set it up on the nightstand before placing her phone on the nightstand too and plugging it in to charge.

Satisfied that she had properly sorted out her things she quickly stripped off her clothes that were sweaty from the road trip and changed into some cleaner, more comfortable clothes. Astrid readjusted her headband till she found her look acceptable then headed out of her room down the stairs into the large living room that was connected to the kitchen. Where all of the gang besides Snotlout were currently doing something.

Ruff was flicking through her phone; whilst Fishlegs unpacked the food they had brought with them into the kitchen; and Tuff sat at the end of the sofa, next to Hiccups head, flicking through the channels on the TV. As she looked around at everyone doing their own things she suddenly felt a very strange feeling. She felt unnecessary and unwanted. That was when Hiccup got up and spoke to her.

* * *

"Astrid," Hiccup said tentatively. His chest was beginning to hurt as he spoke and he feared she would just ignore him and move on to somewhere else but she was looking directly at him.

"What Hiccup?" She asked, her voice surprisingly more soft than he had expected it to be.

"We need to talk," he said plainly to her. She stared at him unblinking for a few seconds before she replied,

"Actually I don't think we do." Her voice was icy and cold now but her face had not changed at all. Something welled up inside Hiccup's chest with hurt and anger and he did something he never thought he would do. He shouted at Astrid.

"NO WE DO!" his voice was tired and hoarse but it did not crack, "I am sick of pretending like we don't even know each other. Like we were never friends. Sick of you ignoring me and acting like you hate me when I don't even know why. When you won't tell me why. I can't do this anymore." his voice broke and dropped to almost a whisper as he said these last words. Tears were beginning to flow from his eyes and almost everyone int he room was staring at him. "I… I miss you, Astrid," he said almost inaudibly, letting the tears run freely now, as he turned on his heel and slumped his way out of the door. He needed to get out of there.

* * *

Hiccup had shouted at her. He had actually shouted at her. But worse than that he thought she hated him, and now he had gone off to god knows where crying his eyes out after saying that he missed her. He hadn't even given her a chance to reply, to cave in and tell him she missed him too. That she hated being with Eret and she wanted him, all of him and nothing else. She realised now that Hiccup had never felt anything about Heather, that something more than what she thought had gone on that night and she was mentally kicking herself for the way she reacted to it. The way she ruined everything. She had to go after him.

"I should probably go and find him before he does something stupid," she heard Fishlegs say. Breaking the thick tension that was clouding the air.

"No," she said sternly, "I'll go."

* * *

**Wow, two chapters in one night :) What can I say I want to carry on the story for you guys. The next one will be out in a day or two depending on how busy I am but I may have to postpone to Saturday as I will be spending alot of time crying on Friday after I watch The Hidden World again.**

**As always comment and reviews are welcome :)**

**All is still to be resolved,**

-Pluckycross


	10. Chapter 10

It didn't take long for her to find Hiccup as he hadn't gone far from the cabin. He had followed the path around the back of the cabin down to the shoreline of the beach and Astrid found him sat on the beach staring out across the crystal blue lake. He was skipping stones across the flat surface of the lake and had she not just witnessed what happened before he left the house, Astrid would have thought that Hiccup was just chilling out. But of course, she knew that he wasn't.

He appeared not to notice her as she came up behind him but she knew that he was probably acutely aware of her presence. Yet Hiccup made no move to leave. He didn't say anything either, he just threw another stone out across the lake, causing it to skip twice before sinking under the surface. The pebbles on the beach crunched under Astrid's feet as she walked down towards the shoreline and though it was evident that Hiccup knew she, or someone at least, was their now. He did not look at her, he just remained silent. Astrid could see now as she looked at him that his eyes were red and puffy from crying and hung under them were dark bags from lack of sleep. He sat with his legs crossed and his back bent forward in a position that looked very uncomfortable and he fiddled his fingers through the pebbles on the beach.

She sat down quietly next to him and began to think about what she would say to him. Suddenly, he changed his posture, he uncrossed his legs and pulled them close to his chest, leaving his hands sprawled out on the beach behind him for balance. She feared that he would get up and leave but he didn't budge past this point. Carefully, Astrid reached out with one of her hands and gently placed it on top of his, he flinched slightly at her touch but did not leave.

"I'm sorry," they both said at the same time, surprising each other and causing an involuntary laugh. Astrid saw a smile tugging at the corners of Hiccup's lips then fading just as fast. He was the first to carry on.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you," Hiccup said remorsefully. His voice was hoarse and croaky from crying and remain at a very quiet volume as though he was too tired to speak any louder.

"You don't have to be sorry Hiccup," Astrid replied her voice solemn and sweet, "I have been an absolute idiot. I saw you with Heather the night before I got with Eret. I saw you guys kissing. And I overreacted, I went off to Eret and left you. I just couldn't bear the thought of watching you with another girl so I felt like I had to avoid you. It was such a stupid thing to do and I am sorry Hiccup." Hiccup's eyes seemed to dim down at what she just said and he began to speak quietly but clearly,

"I was coming to see you that night Astrid, I had something I wanted to tell you and something I wanted to give to you. And… she… she took it from me."

* * *

Fresh tears began to brim in Hiccups eyes as he relived the pain of that night, but this time he wasn't alone. Astrid saw the tears beginning to form and pulled Hiccup into her, pressing his head into her chest and stroking his hair soothingly.

"What did she take from you Hiccup," she asked.

"I never got the opportunity to tell you my secret," he cried quietly into her chest, wetting her top, "and she stole my first kiss. The one I wanted to give to you." He felt stupid saying it now, it was so cheesy and cliche and he didn't even know if Astrid felt anything for him but he couldn't bear to hide his thoughts any longer. Astrid was quiet for some time as he cried into her and he began to think he had ruined it all, that she didn't feel the same way before she broke the silence.

"What was your secret Hicc?" She asked tentatively, using the nickname which she hadn't called him in such a long time. She pulled his face up out of her chest to look him dead in his wet, puffy yet still beautiful and captivating green eyes. "What did you want to tell me?"

He was quiet for a moment as he sniffled slightly to clear his airways then he whispered quietly in a very nasally voice,

"That I like you, Astrid. I like you a fucking lot." A small strange smile formed on his lips and she smiled back at him, putting on the sweetest voice she could; the one she would only ever reserve for Hiccup.

"I like you too Hicc. more than you know. And I know I can't do anything about how I acted, and I acted like an absolute idiot. I pushed you away to hide my feelings for you because I couldn't face you not feeling the same way. But if we can move on. I can do something about how you feel now. She didn't take your first kiss from you Hiccup, any more than a mother kissing you would. She could try but it would never work unless you wanted to do it with her. And perhaps I can give you a better experience of a first kiss?" A smile tugged Hiccup's lips and he felt a part of his old characteristic happiness (the happiness he had felt with Astrid) return to him.

"Perhaps," he whispered back invitingly as she leaned in closer to him. He followed her lead until their lips met in the middle.

In a moment that could be described as no less than magical.

* * *

She had finally done it, she had finally kissed Hiccup. And though the two of them still had things to talk about she finally felt like she would get the guy of her dreams. The was between his legs, leaning back into his body as his arms wrapped tightly and possessively around her, yet she didn't feel uncomfortable. His touch just made her feel safe and content.

"I'm sorry Hiccup," she said once more not giving him time to reply, "I should have been there to help you, I should have given you a chance to explain. I can't keep thinking that if I did then we would be together without all this added baggage." He sighed audibly,

"Astrid," Hiccup said, "There is no baggage for me. I don't care about what happened over the past couple of months. I want you in the here and now, and in the future. So you can stop apologising, Milady." She smiled at the mention of her old nickname before she realised something.

"I need something to call you now that we are together," she said as she turned her head around, not moving from where she was sat, to face him.

"What do you mean?" He asked, "You already have a nickname for me."

"Yeah but Hicc is so mainstream. I need something that only I get to call you."

"Is someone getting possessive already?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh shut it you," she replied, smiling just like he was but she still punched his arm. It was very awkward to do from where she was sat but he deserved it. She snuggled into her chest slightly as she said: "I have you now and I don't want to lose you."

"And you want everyone else to know I am yours," he added with a smirk.

"Okay maybe that too," she caved.

"What about Baby," Hiccup suggested.

"I don't know," was Astrid's response.

"Hiccy?"

"Okay. That's just weird. and no."

"Umm…" He paused as he began to think hard.

"Babe!" Astrid suddenly shouted out as she smiled at him, "Yeah I like that."

"How is that any different from Baby?" Hiccup asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It just is."

"Whatever you say, Milady."

"Oh just shut it, Babe." They shared a smile before she turned back around and leaned into his chest breathing a sigh of content.

For the first time in months, She felt at home.

* * *

"They've been gone a really long time," Fishlegs said, his voice sounding slightly worried, "What if something happened to them?"

"I bet they were eaten by a bear. Or... oooh oooh… A fire breathing dragon," Tuffnut joked with a smile, "Yeah, definitely a dragon. Everyone knows bears don't actually exist."

"Tuff my friend. You are an absolute moron," Snotlout laughed from where he was sat on the couch.

"And you're not helping," Fishlegs carried on, "Seriously guys though, what if something happened? What if they are in trouble and need our help or Astrid couldn't find Hiccup?"

"Fishy," Ruff said the softness in her voice surprising the two other boys, "I am sure they are fine. They are probably just having a little… fun shall I say." She smirked at the confused look on Fishlegs face as Snotlout and Tuff burst out laughing. Fishlegs looked at Ruffnut with a very confused expression on his face and asked,

"What do you mean fun?" Ruff smiled at him and made a gesture that Fishlegs immediately recognised and turned bright red.

"First off Ruff, Eww. Secondly, if I wanted to do that I would do it up in my bedroom not out in the woods," a voice said rather sharply from behind them and the four of them turned around to see Hiccup and Astrid who had slipped in the back door unnoticed. They stood with Astrid in front of Hiccup, leaning back on his chest whilst his arms were wrapped around her body. A massive smile was plastered on Hiccup's face.

"Really? Eww." Hiccup said with a look of mock disappointment.

"Just shush you, Astrid replied to her boyfriend as she tilted her head up to look into his eyes which he responded to by kissing her gently on the forehead. When Astrid looked back down she saw that all of her friends were staring at her with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

Ruffnut was the first to speak up,

"How on earth did you leave this house acting like you didn't know one another and come back like this?" She asked obviously very confused.

"We had a long chat and cleared some things up," Astrid replied to her friend.

"Okay, one final question then, Ruffnut said, "What is this?"

"I guess we are boyfriend and girlfriend," Hiccup replied, moving one of his hands up to rub the back of his neck in his classic awkward posture; though the other hand remained tightly held around Astrid as if asking for confirmation of his statement. She squeezed his hand lightly in reassurance.

"Oh great," Snotlout sighed, "So now we have to deal with all the sappy coupley stuff from them."

"Would you rather that or us ripping each other's throats out?" Astrid asked in reply to his statement. Snot looked like he was about to reply before he was cut off by a very enthusiastic cry from Tuffnut,

"HICCSTRID!" He shouted as he ran at the two of them and wrapped them up in a hug.

"Hiccstrid?" Hiccup asked, very confused.

"It's your ship name. Like a mix of Hiccup and Astrid," Tuffnut responded, "And what I will be calling you from now on my little lovebirds." He backed off over to his sister before speaking again,

"Looks like you owe me twenty quid Snotty," he stated with a smile. Before Snotlout could argue with the blond Astrid spoke up,

"Wait. You bet on me and Hiccup getting together?" she asked sounding annoyed at the blond boy.

"Yeah," Tuff replied, oblivious of Astrid tone of voice, "And I am making twenty quid off of it."

"Oh, Tuffnut Thorston. I am going to kill you!" Tuff finally noticed the very annoyed blonde and looked to Hiccup for support as he held his arms around Astrid's waist to stop her. But he simply mouthed the word "_Run"_ to his friend before he was forced to let go of his girlfriend as her struggling became too much for him to handle. Tuffnut gulped and took off up the stairs like a mouse running from an angry cat (which funnily enough was almost exactly what he was doing), quickly followed by Astrid.

* * *

"So you and Astrid, huh?" Fishlegs said to Hiccup after Astrid had gone scrambling off up the stairs after Tuff.

"Yeah," Hiccup replied a little awkwardly, though he couldn't help the grin slipping into his face as he thought about all that had happened in the past few hours. Astrid Hofferson, the girl of his dreams, was his girlfriend.

"Well I'm glad that you are finally looking like yourself again man," Fishlegs stated warmly.

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked, slightly confused.

"Well no offence dude," Fishlegs replied, "But you have been a bit of a grouchy ass the past couple of months. Not like yourself at all. But I can see that the old you is already starting to come back, but I would suggest getting some sleep Hicc. You look absolutely exhausted." Hiccup walked over to the kitchen after his friend had said this and stared into one of the mirrors to see what his friend meant.

Despite how happy he was right now, he looked like a mess. The black bags still hung under his eyes from lack of sleep and his eyes were still puffy and rimmed with red from crying. "_I could definitely use a rest,"_ Hiccup thought as he looked at himself before he turned back to his friend.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go up to bed now guys," he informed all of his friends who were still in the living room. Fishlegs gave Hiccup a thumbs up as he headed to the stairs and made his way to the second floor. Hiccup passed Tuffnut, making his way downstairs whilst rubbing his arm, as he walked up the stairs and then ran into Astrid when he reached the top of the stairs. He accidentally bumped into her as his tiredness caught up to him and his movements were becoming sluggish.

"Sorry," Hiccup replied really quickly ash he knocked into Astrid but she just smiled at him.

"It's alright, Babe," she replied, "If you were coming up to get me I'm about to come downstairs again."

"I was actually going to go to bed," Hiccup replied as he smiled slightly to her in reply, "But I could stay up for you." She looked up at him and saw the state he looked in for the first time since they had left the beach.

"Gods no Babe, you look exhausted," Astrid exclaimed, "You should definitely go off to bed. I can see you tomorrow and I'd rather you sorted yourself out than stay up for me." She stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed him quickly on the lips before heading off downstairs' turning around half way down to gesture for him to go to bed. Hiccup obliged and headed to his bedroom. Too tired to get undressed, he flopped down on his bed and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

* * *

** Finally, I get to write some Hiccstrid fluff. I hope you guys enjoyed it and rest assured there is so much more to come from this cus as long as I have ideas I will keep writing chapters. Soon we will find out how Eret reacts to Hiccup taking "his" girlfriend but it won't be for a few chapters as it is time for some cuteness and just more of the gang.**

**Please let me know what you thought and I will see you in the next one.**

-Pluckycross


	11. Chapter 11

Hiccup woke the next morning to the sun shining in through the window of the cabin directly onto his face. He squinted slightly and rolled over, realising at that moment that he was above the covers and already fully clothed. For a second he couldn't remember why before the events of the previous day came rushing back to him and a smile slipped into his face. He yawned slightly before realising it was probably time to get up. Hiccup promptly headed to the bathroom where he got undressed, showered, and then put a fresh pair of clothes on, before heading downstairs into the living room.

As he headed down the stairs he could hear voices talking in the kitchen and he turned the corner of the stairs into the living room to see Astrid and Ruffnut stood chatting in the kitchen. Astrid smiled at him as he reached the bottom step and gestured outside mouthing "_They're out there to him,"_ before turning back to Ruffnut. Hiccup smiled at her and turned towards the door, opening it and heading out into the midday sun. He made his way around the edge of the house to the back where he found the three other boys lounging in the sun whilst chatting to one another.

"Afternoon," Fishlegs called out when he saw his friend.

"Wait it's afternoon already?" Hiccup asked, looking very confused.

"Yeah," Fishlegs replied, "You were asleep when we had breakfast this morning and Astrid wouldn't let anyone wake you up so you were just left to sleep." Suddenly, Hiccup's body seemed to realise that he hadn't eaten in over a day and his stomach growled audibly.

"Yous should probably go get some food mate," Fishlegs laughed as Hiccup awkwardly rubbed the back of his own neck.

"Yeah I guess I should," Hiccup laughed in reply as he said hello to the other two boys who had just noticed his appearance then headed back inside of the house towards the kitchen.

* * *

"So you and Hiccup, huh?" Ruffnut smirked whilst she nudged her friends in the arm.

"Yeah I guess so," Astrid replied with a smile as she thought about the events of the previous day and how she was now dating Hiccup Haddock.

"You look like a child who just got told she could have sweets by her parents," Ruff laughed, making an observation at her friend's current state.

"Am I really that bad?" Astrid asked her friend as she let out a short laugh.

"I think it is cute," Ruff replied, "Plus you two deserve to be happy. I mean you have like him since summer camp and it is about time. I just wish it didn't come with the weeks of you guys acting like idiots. He was an absolute downer for months without you. But at least you both are happy now."

"Yeah. Don't remind me of it," Astrid said, "I already feel bad enough about how much of an idiot I acted about the whole thing."

"At least you never slept with Eret?" Ruffnut replied half as a statement and half as a question.

"I wouldn't have ever done that," Astrid stated plainly as she grimaced slightly at the thought of it, "Speak of that jerk. I wonder how he will react when he finds out."

"He'll probably just move onto some other girl, knowing guys like him."

"Yeah. I'm so glad Hiccup isn't like that," Astrid replied with a smile.

"Back again with the kid in a candy store," Ruff joked causing both of the girls to begin laughing.

Right in that moment was when Hiccup opened the front door and walked into the cabin. Astrid noticed him and smiled at him like she had done a minute ago when he walked out the door and he returned the smile.

"I thought you were going out to talk to the boys?" Astrid asked as he got near.

"I just couldn't keep myself away from you," he replied with a smirk as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. It wasn't long but Astrid still felt the same sparks fly when his lips touched hers and the aftertaste of sparkles that made her giddy when he pulled away. Ruff coughed loudly from where she was stood right next to them. Astrid was still smiling as she asked Hiccup,

"Why did you actually come in here?"

"Can't a guy just come to see his girlfriend?" Hiccup replied with a smirk.

"Not when he just walked out of the house straight past me like five minutes ago," she replied putting her hands on her hips and pulling back from him, "so spill it Haddock."

"Okay, okay," Hiccup pleaded, raising his hands in a gesture of mock innocence. "I was gonna talk to the guys but my stomach happily reminded me that I haven't eaten since yesterday morning."

"So you didn't come to see me, you came to see food?" Astrid asked as a playful frown formed on her face.

"I guess," Hiccup replied with a laugh.

"So you admit you lied about coming to see me?" She continued her playful investigation.

"I mean not entirely, seeing you was just a… Uh… Bonus," he replied pretending to think hard about what he was saying.

"Is that all I am to you. A bonus?" She raised her eyebrow at him and smirked.

"Umm… Uhh… No," Hiccup faked a stutter carrying on their little play.

"You're lucky I like you Haddock," Astrid smirked at him as Hiccup sighed over enthusiastically and wiped his head causing Astrid to laugh.

"You guys realise I am still here," Ruff said with an annoyed tone of voice, "Just stood here wishing you two would get a room." All three of them laughed at her comment.

* * *

Hiccup had just finished eating the sandwich he had made, whilst listening to Astrid and Ruffnut carry on their conversation when suddenly Tuff burst through the door of the cabin followed by Snotlout and then Fishlegs.

"GUYSSS! I have just had the greatest idea for what we can do tonight," Tuffnut shouted almost immediately as he entered the room.

"And what would that be?" Astrid piped up from behind Hiccup.

"We are… Wait for it." He paused for a solid thirty seconds before Ruff spoke up,

"Oh, just bloody tell us."

"Somebody is impatient," Tuff quipped before carrying on, "We are gonna have a campfire."

Everyone stared at him before they started simultaneously laughing. "What's so funny about it?"

"The fact you made such a big deal over just that," Ruffnut chortled at her brother.

"But it is a good idea," Hiccup piped up, defending Tuff before he turned to the boy, "Just not sure it deserves the reaction you gave it."

"Yeah it is a good idea," Fishlegs carried on, "We can make smores and tell stories and stuff like that."

"So it's settled," Astrid stated, "We'll have a campfire tonight." Tuffnut whooped in response whilst Astrid began organising everything they needed for the campfire later in the night.

* * *

**I hope you guys (and gals) enjoy another chapter of this story lovingly written by me, for you. Next chapter should be coming by Saturday and will contain the story of how Hiccup met Astrid and the Twins at summer camp. So there is much to look forward to. :)**

**Reviews always welcomed.**

**See you then,**

-Pluckycross


	12. Chapter 12

The fire crackled quietly, emitting waves of pleasant heat towards the college students who sat around it. Astrid snuggled backing into Hiccup's chest, his arms wrapped more tightly around her waist and he pressed a kiss to the back of her head. She smiled softly at the gesture and hummed in contentedness. Ruff awwed from the other side of the campfire and Tuff, who was sat next to her, scrunched his nose up in mock disgust. Fishlegs was busy fiddling with a stick in boredom and Snotlout was quietly sipping on a beer.

"Well," Ruff said, breaking the silence, "This is boring." She sighed audibly.

"Yeah," Tuff agreed, "Whose stupid idea was it to have a campfire?"

"Yours you, idiot," Snotlout perked up with a smirk and Tuffnut lunged at him starting a scrap on the opposite side of the campfire to Astrid.

"Can you two act responsibly for once?" Astrid asked sternly and the two of them broke away from their fight to return to their previous positions, seeming unfazed.

"Hey," Hiccup piped up from behind her, "Why don't we tell some stories?"

"Like what?" Ruffnut asked sceptically.

"Umm… I don't know," Hiccup replied awkwardly.

"I know," Snotlout spoke up, "You can tell us the story of how you lot met." He gestured to Hiccup, the twins and then to Astrid.

"Yeah," agreed Fishlegs, "You never told me what happened at the summer camp."

"Fine," Hiccup caved from behind them, "I'll tell you."

"We'll tell you," Astrid corrected him causing him to smile and agree before he began the story.

* * *

_The previous summer_

Hiccup leaned back in his seat and plugged his headphones in, pulling out his phone and putting some music on. He had just got on the coach that was taking them out to the summer camp. It was a sign-up summer camp for people all around Berk that his father had signed him up to, citing that he needed to get out more but Hiccup knew it was just to get him out of the way for some time so his father didn't have to bother with him. He shuffled slightly in his seat in order to get comfortable as the rest of the kids who were heading on the trip filed in. He recognised a few of them from his high school but they had been the popular kids so they probably didn't know who he was. He had been very far down on the social food chain but luckily he was done with high school now and would be heading off to university after the summer.

He was so caught up in his own head that he didn't notice the boy stood up in the aisle staring at him until said boy tapped him on the shoulder. He had blonde hair that hung down in dreadlocks that appeared rather dirty. He was wearing a matte green jumper with a desert brown t-shirt underneath and had light blue headphones hung around his neck.

"Hey dude," the boy asked, "Is anyone sitting here?" Hiccup pulled one of his earbuds out and shook his head,

"Nah. It's free," he replied casualty to the boy.

"Cool," was the boy's reply as he swung down in the seat and pushed his back under the chair in front, "I'm Tuffnut by the way." He grinned at Hiccup in a casual way and stuck his hand out for him to shake. Hiccup accepted the gesture, shaking his hand,

"Hiccup," he said.

"Hmm?" Tuff asked, obviously confused.

"My name, It's Hiccup."

"Oh," he grinned back. They both chuckled quietly before Hiccup slotted his earbud back into his ear.

* * *

"Oi, Jackass," she heard Ruffnut exclaimed next to her and turned to see Ruff glaring over her seat at her brother, who was sat right behind her. Astrid shook her head lightly and smirked at the twins. Tuff had been kicking Ruff's seat almost the whole journey, with the goal of annoying his sister and it was working perfectly. Ruff turned back around and faced Astrid. "I am seriously gonna kill that boy one day, Strid," she exclaimed to her friend before sighing.

"When you do, can you do it quietly?" Astrid asked sarcastically, "I am sick of listening to you to bicker. This journey couldn't be over quicker." She leaned back in her chair and tried to put her headphones back on but they were pulled off a second later by Ruff.

"Ruff, for Thor's sake can you just leave me alone?" Astrid almost shouted at her friend. Ruff, being oblivious as always, simply turned to her friend and asked,

"How much longer have we got on this stupid bus?"

Finally, something Astrid agreed with. This journey was stupid though not likely for the same reasons that Ruffnut thought it was.

"I don't have a clue, Ruff," Astrid replied more calmly now. Ruff span around to face her brother.

"Numbskull," she shouted at Tuff, "How long have we got left?"

"How do you expect me to know," he replied.

"You're supposed to be the smart twin."

"Neither of you is the smart twin," Astrid interjected with a smirk as she turned around and popped her other earphone out, finally deciding to take interest in the conversation. She saw the boy who was sat next to Tuff snicker at her comment and for some strange reason, it made her feel warm inside. Tuff turned to the boy and pulled one of his earphones out.

"Eyy Hiccup mate," he said acting as though he had known this Hiccup kid his entire life, "Do you know how much longer we have left." The kid next to Tuff (Hiccup) smiled after he was asked this and laughed quietly to himself before he spoke,

"Well judging by the fact we just went through the camps main gate I would say not very long," he replied sarcastically with a sweet voice that made Astrid blush again for unknown reasons.

Hiccup was obviously confused the next second when Tuff scrambled over him to look out of the window. He backed up in his seat and looked at Astrid, gesturing to Tuff and asking,

"Is he always like this?"

"You get used to it," was her reply as she smiled at him.

* * *

After the coach stopped the teens had all piled off the bus and immediately been met by their camp instructors who had shown them to their living accommodations for the next couple weeks. They were staying in large teepees in the middle of a clearing in the wood, there was a visible break in the trees that led from the clearing down a hill towards a large lake at the bottom. Some of the teens had left their bags at the entrance and immediately rushed down towards the lakes as they had a free day for now until they were called together later. Hiccup, however, had headed to his designated tent and plopped his bag down on the floor before sitting down in the warmth of the teepee.

A few moments later, Tuff entered the teepee with the two girls from the bus. He plopped his bag down next to Hiccup's as the girls did so on the other side of the tent.

"Fancy seeing you lot here," Hiccup said with a smile.

"Looks like we will be spending a few weeks together," one of the girls replied with a smirk, "I'm Astrid, that mess there is Ruffnut but we call her Ruff, and you have already met Ruff's twin brother, Tuff." Tuff walked up to Hiccup and bowed in mock fashion,

"Master Tuffnut Thorston, at your service," he said in a fake British accent causing Astrid to roll her eyes.

"You said you get used to this didn't you," Hiccup said, gesturing to Tuffnut with a smirk.

"Eventually," Astrid replied.

* * *

_2 days later_

One of the first activities that they had been sent out on was a trail through the forest. They had been sent out in their tent groups in order to traverse the trail and so Hiccup found himself walking next to Astrid whilst the twins were messing about behind them. They had all become friends with him now after a day of getting to know each other and whilst he did like Tuff and Ruff he knew he was closer with Astrid than them already.

"What high school did you go to?" Astrid asked casually continuing on the conversation she and Hiccup had been having for the past half an hour.

"I went to Berk High School," he replied with a chuckle, "Nothing special really."

"You're making me wish I went there too," Astrid replied, "Anything would have been better than my high school. I went to Nadder High and it was terrible. Everyone, besides those two, was so bitchy. I don't know how I survived. It was terrible."

"I'm kind of glad you never came to my high school," Hiccup replied honestly. Astrid turned to him and scowled. "I didn't mean it like that," he backtracked quickly, "Just that if you had, you probably won't be seen dead with me. I was kind of the nerd that no one liked at school and I bet you would have been in with the popular kids and have never spoken to me." Astrid raised her eyebrow at him and smirked before she spoke,

"Maybe," she replied drawing closer to him and whispering quietly into his ear, "Though I do have a thing for nerds so you never know." She pulled away and winked at Hiccup, causing his face to turn bright red. Astrid burst out laughing and punched him gently on the shoulder. Hiccup began laughing to as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"But seriously," Hiccup carried on a moment later when he had got over his awkwardness," Your school can't have been that bad."

Suddenly, a certain Tuffnut Thorston forced his way between the two of them,

"Hiccup, Hiccup, my dear, sweet Hiccup," he said, "You have no idea how bad our high school was. They didn't even let me and my dear sister pull our graduation prank. Said something about kicking us out if we did. Can you imagine the pain we were in?"

"Yes, yes I'm sure you were on the verge of death Tuff," Astrid cut in with a smirk, "And I mean it's not like that stopped you from pulling pranks on our final day."

"Yeah," Ruff said barging into the conversation, "But they were nowhere near as destructive as they should have been." Hiccup was smirking at this as he cut in with his own story,

"That doesn't sound bad, at least you had teachers who actually did things. Some teachers in my school would walk down the halls and just ignore the jocks beating up certain geeky kids." Hiccup face changed momentarily as though he was having an unpleasant flashback but just was quickly switched back to his regular noticed the slight change and look across at Hiccup sympathetically but he just smiled in return as though nothing was wrong.

They carried on talking for the rest of the walk with the occasional interruption from the twins and soon they were back at the camp and the sun was beginning to fall in the sky. They were also, the first group to complete the course; although they had no idea how that happened. Ruff and Tuff headed off towards the lake and Astrid slipped away whilst Hiccup was staring absentmindedly at the trees. After a few minutes he came back to reality; looked down at his phone to check the time (it was 3:30); and, as they had been given the afternoon to chill out, he headed over to his tent to get changed into some clean clothes.

He pulled back the flap of the teepee and instantly froze. Stood in the tent, in the middle of getting dressed, was Astrid. She had her shorts pulled halfway up her legs and was only wearing a bra on the top half of her body. Astrid didn't notice Hiccup for a second as she finished pulling up her shorts but as she looked up she saw him. He was stood in the entrance to the teepee, gripping the tent flaps with a very flustered look on his face.

"I'm… I'm sorry," he quickly stumbled out of his mouth before practically falling out of the tent to get out of view of Astrid. "_Damnit, bet she thinks I am some creep now,"_ he thought to himself as he sat down on the floor near the tent, facing away from it. Hiccup heard the flaps swish back and forth as someone exited and the next second Astrid was sat next to him, she was blushing slightly.

"How much did you… umm, you know?" She asked awkwardly.

"I was only there for a second I swear," he quickly replied, hoping she wouldn't think he was lying.

"It's alright Hiccup. I believe you," she replied softly.

"Well that was awkward," he observed.

"Yeah," she agreed, "What were you doing back at the tent anyways?"

"I was going to get changed." Astrid laughed at the coincidence that they had both chosen to get changed at the same time.

"Lucky for you, you got a sight much better than getting changed," she teased as she nudged him slightly on the arm. He laughed a little awkwardly before smirking.

"You know it, Milady."

* * *

_The last day of summer camp_

Astrid was bummed out. Really, really, really, insanely bummed out. And she was showing it. It was only one day till the camp ended and she had to go back home for the rest of the holidays and then off to university. Sure the university she was going looked good and she was going with her too close friends. But now she felt like there would be something, or someone, missing when she got there. The silly, funny auburn-haired idiot who she had met three weeks ago and who had become such a close friend. This may be the last day she would ever see him.

Ruff kept telling her to just get his number but Astrid just couldn't bring herself to ask him. Every time she went to bring it up she got really awkward for some reason that was completely unknown to her. And this was bumming her out. She wanted to be able to text and chat to Hiccup when the summer camp ended but she was being so uncharacteristically scared about asking Hiccup for his phone number. I mean it wasn't a big deal, Tuff had asked for (well more taken) Hiccup's phone number a week ago and the boy had said nothing. So why did Astrid feel like this?

She grumpily dumped her bag down where the coach would arrive in an hour or so to pick them up and dragged herself over to the open field where Hiccup was busy discussing something with Tuff. He turned to her and smiled as she arrived and she tried to reciprocate it but ultimately failed. Tuffnut darted off to find his sister as Hiccup tried to grapple after him but couldn't.

"What was that about?" Astrid asked as she gestured to the boy who was currently running away from Hiccup. Hiccup chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck in his classic pose,

"He wants to pull some big prank before we leave and I was trying to convince him not to," Hiccup explained with a smirk.

"You must know by now that you will never separate Tuff from his pranks," Astrid replied.

"Yeah, I should probably know that," Hiccup agreed, "Anyways what's up with you? You seem all down in the dumps."

"Just a little sad that we have to go home now," Astrid admitted, "This summer has been really nice and I'll miss you when I get home."

"Yeah, I'll miss you too. But maybe…" He was cut off as the bus pulled in and the instructor told everyone to pile their bags in and get aboard the bus. Ruff suddenly appeared and grabbed Astrid's hand, pulling her towards the bus. Hiccup followed after a second later. Astrid didn't see Hiccup on the bus journey home. Ruff was too busy discussing an interaction she had had with one of the "hottest boys on the camp" that Astrid never got a chance to talk to Hiccup. By the time Ruff had finished talking, Hiccup had already got off at his stop. Astrid sunk back down into her chair feeling completely and utterly bummed out.

Why couldn't she have just asked him for his number?

* * *

"And then the next time I saw him was the first day of Uni," Astrid concluded, "But we all know about that." Hiccup looked around the fire to find that Ruff and Tuff had fallen asleep and that Fishlegs was still listening intently and Snotlout was also still listening, albeit he was rather drunk.

"We should probably get back to the cabin," Hiccup exclaimed. Fishlegs nodded at him.

"I'll wake these two up and help get Snot back," he said, "You too go on ahead."

"Thanks, Fish," Hiccup replied with a smile as Astrid shifted off his lap and stood up. She helped him to his feet before lacing her fingers through his and the two of them headed off back to cabin.

By the time they reached the cabin Hiccup and Astrid were both feeling exceptionally tired. They trudged up the stairs still hand in hand, stopping just outside Astrid's bedroom.

"Damn it is cold in here," Astrid exclaimed, "I bet my bed is gonna be fucking freezing."

"You could always sleep with me, it would be warmer," Hiccup suggested before realising what he had said. Astrid raised an eyebrow and Hiccup quickly tried to backtrack.

"I didn't mean it like that," he managed to stumble out in his defence and Astrid just laughed at him.

"Relax Babe. We are dating now," she reminded him, "And sleeping with you doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. If you want it?" Hiccup smiled at her.

"I would love to have you there with me."

"Aren't you just a little romantic," she observed jokingly as she leaned in and kissed him softly.

"Your little romantic," he corrected her as they pulled back from the kiss.

And with that, the two of them headed off to Hiccup's bed.

* * *

**Sorry for taking so long to get this one out. I have been working on some other stuff the past couple of weeks and kind of got sidetracked. Sorry again :( **

**Anyways I hope you enjoy a new chapter.**

**As always reviews are always welcome :)**

**See you in the next one (however long that will be from now xD)**

-Pluckycross


	13. Chapter 13

Astrid woke up the next morning feeling after the best night of sleep she had possibly ever had. Hiccup's arm was draped over her stomach and her body was tucked neatly into his. The previous night had been warm enough that they had forgoed the covers and instead laid atop them, still partially dressed. Hiccup was still in his t-shirt and shorts, whereas Astrid wore a loose fitting tank top and comfortable jeans. It had to be the most comfortable position she had ever been in. Held tightly to his chest with his arm wrapped possessively around her. She felt safe, secure and, most of all wanted.

Astrid reluctantly slipped out of Hiccup's grasp and rolled over to face him. He was still asleep, his eyes pressed shut but his mouth was slightly open and a bead of drool was hanging from the corner of it. His hair, like always, was a mess and sat like a bird's nest atop his head. Yet despite all these quirks that (some) other girls may find distasteful or disgusting, he looked like the cutest, most adorable person to her. Almost compulsively she leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead, backing off a second later to see his snort and move slightly in his spot. Astrid tried to stifle a chuckle but failed and her laughter ultimately caused him to rouse as well.

Hiccup bleakly rubbed his eyes and looked across to find himself staring into a beautiful sea of blue. A small smile graced his lips and he reached up to wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth before he spoke.

"What are you laughing at?" Hiccup asked innocently.

"You," Astrid replied with a smile, "You were drooling everywhere."

"Oh," Hiccup said with a chuckle, "I didn't gross you out did I?"

"Absolutely and I am afraid I am going to have to break up with you," she playfully quipped at him. A look of mock disappointment plastered his face and he pouted, pretending to cry."But in all honesty," Astrid carried on, "You look really cute when you sleep."

"Well thank you, Milady."

"My pleasure."

* * *

As she wandered down the stairs into the living room, Astrid surveyed the scene around her. Snotlout was passed out on the couch, deep in his hungover sleep; Ruff was sat on the other sofa with her phone in hand; Fishlegs was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, the smell of bacon and eggs wafting through the room; and Tuff was nowhere to be seen. Upstairs the sound of the shower running could still be heard as Hiccup took one; being the gentleman he was he had let Astrid wash first when they got up. Her hair was still wet from the shower as she couldn't be bothered to use her hair dryer but it was bundled up in her classic ponytail so it was less noticeable.

"Have a good time last night?" Ruff asked with a smirk as she looked up from her phone when she saw Astrid. Astrid glared back at her friend.

"Shut it Thorston, " she replied with a slight scowl on her face, "For your information, even though it is none of your business, nothing happened last night.

"Yeah I get it," Ruff replied with the smirk still plastered on her face, "_Nothing happened_." She winked at her friend as Astrid strolled over the room and punched her on the shoulder. It was Ruff's turn to scowl at Astrid now and she did just that before returning to her book and grumbling quietly. Astrid smiled at herself then made her way back across the living room towards the kitchen where she was greeted by Fishlegs.

"Mornin," he said as he fiddled with the food in his pan using his spatula.

"Good morning," she replied with a smile.

"You want anything?" he asked, gesturing with the spatula to the mess of fried eggs and bacon in his pan.

"I think I'll just have toast," Astrid laughed in reply before walking over the counter and popping four slices of bread into the toaster. "Does anyone have anything planned for today?" she asked a moment later. By this point, Fishlegs had taken his food of the hob and distributed it messily onto two plates. He called Ruffnut over before turning back to Astrid.

"No I don't think anyone did have any plans," he informed her casually, "We are going back tomorrow so I think everyone just wants to chill out today."

"Speaking of today," Ruff joined in as she slid into a seat around the kitchen counter, "I wanted to go for a walk around the woods. You wanna come?" She directed her question specifically at Fishlegs causing him to get slightly flustered.

"Yeah… Um… Sure, I'll come with you," he managed to stutter out before retreating from the kitchen clutching his plate close to him. Astrid, who had overseen the whole interaction, raised an eyebrow at her friend who had just begun munching down on the breakfast that Fishlegs had made her.

"He's still a bit nervous when it comes to spending time alone," Ruffnut explained through mouthfuls.

"I thought you guys were…" Astrid started but was cut off but Ruff.

"I thought we were too but I don't know. Just between you and me, and I mean nothing bad by it. But I think Fish has some issues with relationships that he hasn't told anyone. I honestly don't know what is happening between us, Strid. I mean I haven't been fooling around with other guys like I used to but we have hardly spoken alone in months so I really don't know. And it sucks. Cus I think I really like him. Ya know, in a way that is different to how I have felt for any boy before. Like he is more than just looks, there is an actual interesting person behind him. God, I sound like such a girl right now."

"Hey, everyone's gotta be girly sometimes," Astrid replied before she frowned slightly. Ruff started laughing,

"I can't believe you, Astrid Hofferson, just said that. Perhaps Hiccup has gotten to you already."

Not a word to anyone Thorston," Astrid threatened the other girl in her usual Astrid manner, "I did not just say that."

"Whatever you say, Hofferson," Ruff replied with a grin, earning her a swift punch on the forearm.

"Don't you have a walk to get ready for or something?" Astrid asked, clearly slightly annoyed.

"Yeah I do actually," Ruffnut replied, "Have fun with Hiccup today," she winked at Astrid and slipped of the seat, exiting back into the living room.

* * *

"Heads up, Hiccup heard Astrid call out as he made his way down the stairs. His hair was still damp and clinging to the top of his head in places and in others it was stuck up at weird angles like usual. The next second a piece of toast hit him square in the face causing him to recoil in surprise. He heard Astrid snort as she tried to stifle her laughter in the kitchen and Ruff burst out laughing from where she was sat on the couch. Hiccup recovered from his shock a second later and looked across towards the kitchen, raising his eyebrow at his girlfriend.

"What was that for?" Hiccup asked her in a very confused tone of voice.

"I said heads up," Astrid replied innocently as a slight, mischievous smile spread across her face.

"I know you did. But I didn't expect you to be lobbing toast at me."

"Well maybe you should learn to expect the unexpected Haddock," Astrid replied in a joking tone, "Now eat your floor toast. We are going out in a minute."

"Do I have no say in this?" he asked back as he reached down to pick the toast off the floor although he had no intention of eating it)

"None at all," she replied with a grin.

"Is it always gonna be like this?" he asked with mock annoyance plaster on his face.

"Yeah so you better get used to it," she quipped back before throwing another slice of toast at him (which he caught this time).

* * *

Another rock splashed along the surface of the water as it exited her hand. They were walking side by side down the rocky pebble beach that bordered that lake. The sun was slightly obscured by some light grey clouds that hung in the sky up above but overall the day was as warm as it could be. Hiccup's arm brushed hers as they walked, sending a surge of electricity up her forearm. Astrid turned to look at him to see he was staring absentmindedly at her with a large smile plastered on his face; it made him look like a doofus (albeit a very cute one).

"Enjoying the view?" she asked Hiccup with a laugh. It seemed to shock him back to the moment and he stuttered for a moment before flashing her a lopsided smile that made butterflies sprout in her stomach. She smiled back at him after a second before reaching down, plucking another rock up in her hand, and sending it darting across the lake.

"Astrid?" She heard Hiccup say in a rather questioning tone from behind her, causing her to turn around to face him.

"Yeah?" She replied in an equally questioning tone.

"Have you, umm. Have you actually said anything to Eret about us yet?" he asked with his hands resting on his neck in the classic awkward Hiccup pose.

"No, not yet," Astrid replied, seemingly surprised at the question, "Does it really matter?"

"Well considering he still thinks you two are dating or whatever was going on with you. I'd say yes. It does kind of matter." It was clear from his voice that he wasn't angry or even mad about it but something about what he had said riled something up within Astrid.

"Why do you even care about it?" She asked, her voice taking on a sharper tone.

Hiccup seemed to sense that he might cause an argument if he didn't handle the next few sentences correctly and in response, his face softened and he took a step towards Astrid, raising his hand her face and gently caressing her cheek as she spoke.

"It's just," he said softly, noticing her relax a little already as she seemed to melt into his touch, "I want us to be clear of any drama as quick as possible Milady. So we can get down to it just being you and me. I just want to tie up any loose ends as soon as possible." Hiccup smiled softly at her, staring into her azure blue eyes with his soft green ones. After a second Astrid smiled back at him and smiled as he withdrew his hand from her face.

"Okay," she relented to him, "I don't have signal here, but as soon as I do I will tell him that things are over. Alright?" Hiccup smiled at her and then nodded before taking her hand in his.

"Now come on," he exclaimed, "We still have a whole day to enjoy before we head back!"

* * *

**Hey guys and gals, again I wanna apologise for how long this took to come out. I am currently in the middle of exams and so I am focussing most of my effort on them but I will try to write some more chapters fro this and my other story in the small break I have at the moment. Thank you for waiting for so long and I hope you enjoy.**

-Pluckycross


	14. Chapter 14

At last, after a long, fun week of ups and downs, the gang had to leave the cabin and head back to their dorms ready to start the new term in a few days. Astrid woke up early in the morning alone in her room and began to pack her clothes and other things away into the single bag she had brought with her. The sun was just rising over the tops of the trees as she looked out of her window after finishing her packing, casting a warm orange glow over the evergreens. Astrid sighed to herself as she looked out the window before heading to the bathroom for a quick shower whilst everyone else was undoubtedly just waking up and getting their stuff packed away.

Half an hour later, Astrid emerged from the bathroom, her hair still slightly damp and frizzy. She made her way down into the kitchen where, surprisingly, Fishlegs was already up and cooking the last of the food they had brought for breakfast. He flashed Astrid a quick smile as he saw her come down the steps and then turned back to his cooking.

"What are you doing up so early?" Astrid asked as she wandered into the kitchen and made her way over to the kettle.

"I could ask you the same," Fishlegs chuckled back at her.

"But you didn't," Astrid quipped back again with a smirk, "but seriously why are you up? I thought you were going to have a lie in for the last day?"

"Well, I was," he agreed, "but then I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep so I thought that I might as well come down and make something for you guys to eat before we leave."

"You're too kind," Astrid laughed back at him jokingly, opening the fridge to retrieve the milk as she spoke.

"Eyy Fishman!" Astrid heard a characteristically annoying voice call out from the living room and turned around to see Snotlout sliding down the bannister of the stairs onto the ground floor. "What you got cooking?" he asked a moment later as he entered the kitchen. Fishlegs was in the process of plating up the last of the bacon, that he had made bacon sandwiches out of.

"Take a look for yourself," Fishlegs exclaimed as he took a step to the side to let Snotlout see the breakfast he had made.

"Cooool dude," Snotlout replied before reaching out, grabbing a plate, and stuffing half the sandwich into his mouth. Astrid grimaced at the sight of this and exclaimed,

"That is disgusting," before she finished making herself a cup of tea. Snotlout winked at her as she turned back around to face the two boys,

"You don't have to hide your obvious attraction to me by insulting me, Babes," Snotlout flirted with her.

Astrid frowned deeply and glared at Snotlout after his comment.

"Don't push it Snothat," Astrid semi-growled back at him, her voice menacing and sour. Before Snotlout could make a stupid and snarky comment in reply, Tuffnut arrived in the kitchen.

"Morning Losers, he exclaimed as he wandered through the door, his voice jovial and upbeat as per usual. The next second he noticed the plates of bacon rolls on the side and skidded over to that side of the kitchen, scooping up one of said plates in his hands and (much in the fashion of Snotlout) stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. Fishlegs started almost giggling softly under his breath at the site of Tuff's behaviour and it even caused Astrid to smile slightly.

"Where is Ruff?" Fishlegs asked almost timidly after his laughter died down.

"Nice to see you too Fish," Tuff quipped back with a voice of mock annoyance. Fishlegs looked slightly taken aback at his comment which caused the blond haired boy to laugh audibly. "Just playing with you Fishy. She's up in her room packing still." Tuff winked at Fishlegs a moment later causing Fishlegs to blush slightly and look away from the boy.

"Well, I'm just gonna umm… I'll just take her breakfast up to her," Fishlegs said somewhat insecurely," Do you umm… want me to take Hiccup's up too?" he carried on, turning to face Astrid. She was about to respond yes when the sound of the shower turning on sounded on the floor above them (signifying the Hiccup was awake and busy currently) so she shook her head softly in reply and smiled at Fishlegs thanking him for the offer. He smiled in return then ducked out of the kitchen. Snotlout and Tuffnut followed shortly after, making their own way into the living room. Leaving Astrid all alone in the kitchen, sipping on her tea, staring out of the window, and waiting for Hiccup to come downstairs.

* * *

"Get the bloody hell in there," Hiccup huffed at the last of his clothes as he tried to squash down his suitcase enough to zip it shut. He had never been very good at packing and had barely managed to fit all his stuff in his bag on the way to the cabin when it was all folded neatly. Now that it was all balled up and messy, he was having to fight with his luggage to force it into the bag. After a few minutes of grunting and groaning, however, he managed to finally zip up his bag and flopped down on the floor beside it. Beads of sweat were sat atop Hiccup's forehead and he sighed softly, knowing that he would have to take a shower now. So quickly he ran to the bathroom, hoping to use someone else's shower gel and shampoo (as he had already packed his away in his bag and was not going through the hassle of closing it again.)

Unfortunately for Hiccup, the only person who had yet to pack away their stuff was Ruffnut, and so he got stuck using her floral scented shower gel and shampoo that made him groan when he sniffed himself. He was so getting made fun of for this. After he had showered and redressed, Hiccup gathered up all his belongings and took them downstairs, dumping them next to the door as he greeted Tuff and Snotlout. He then headed over to the kitchen, where Astrid was staring absentmindedly out of the window. He snuck up behind Astrid and gently wrapped his hands around her waist causing her to jolt from his touch. She turned around sharply, probably thinking it was Snotlout, but relaxed when she saw the true owner of the hands. Hiccup flashed her a smile causing her to blush before he kissed her softly on the forehead.

"Good morning, Milady," Hiccup said sweetly as he smiled at her.

"Good morning to you too," she whispered, leaning into his chest whilst wrapping her hands around his neck.

"Sleep well?" He asked unobtrusively.

"Would've been better with you there," she chirped back at him.

"I know. I am pretty great to sleep with," he joked.

And who told you that?" Astrid raised her eyebrow at his remark with a smirk stretching across her face.

"Why, the many girls I have slept with, of course, Milady." His comment earned him a light punch on the shoulder from Astrid, who had pulled back slightly to gaze into his face.

"Is that so?" she asked rhetorically with a devilish look in her eyes. Hiccup nodded back at her with a witty smile plastered on his face. "Well then. There are a lot of girls who are gonna have to get their asses kicked." Astrid flashed him a smile before standing up on her tiptoes and pecking him softly on the lips.

* * *

"Hurry up for god's sake Ruff!" Astrid called up to the house where the other blonde girl was currently dragging her massive suitcase through the door of the house. Tuff was already sat in the front of his van, the music turned up to max volume as his peaked out of the open window, staring at his sister struggle with a smirk on his face. Snotlout was similarly sat in the front of his car with Fishlegs in the passenger's seat, wincing at the smell that was permeating from the other boy.

"It's not my fault this thing is so bloody difficult to move!" Ruffnut shouted back at Astrid, obviously annoyed.

"Perhaps it wouldn't be if you hadn't packed half of the dorm into that suitcase," Astrid quipped in reply with a smirk on her face. Ruff simply huffed in reply and once again strained to lift up her bulging bag.

"I'm with Astrid on this one, Hiccup perked up from behind her where he was leaning against the side of Tuff's van, ready to put Ruff's bag in the boot when she brought it down. Ruff shot dagger eyes at Hiccup before she spoke up once again,

"You can be quiet to Haddock," she growled back at him, "I saw the size of your bag."

"Yeah. But you didn't see me complaining about having to carry it." He smirked at the blonde who was drawing near to him with her oversized bag. She reached out to hand it to him and promptly dropped it on his foot.

"Oops, Ruff exclaimed rather unconvincingly as Hiccup winced before she made her way around to the passenger's side of the van.

"You see that," Hiccup said, turning to Astrid and putting on his best playfully offended accent. "Completely uncalled for."

"Perhaps not completely," she laughed back at him.

"Hey! What happened to being on my side about these things?"

"Oh just shut up and put her stuff in the back you dummy," she laughed once more before swinging herself up into the backseat of the van. Hiccup huffed jokingly in reply before hauling up Ruff's bag with a grunt and dumping it in the back of the van. He then joined Astrid in the backseat.

* * *

Hiccup was just getting his music set up in his earphones when Astrid thrust her face into his face. On the screen was an almost empty chat with Eret except for one text that read "I'm breaking up with you. Don't call me." After he had finished reading the text she drew her phone away and he smiled lightly at her.

"Thanks," he said quietly as she shifted closer to him.

"Now we can just be you and me," she said in response with a smile on her face.

"The only way I want it to be," Hiccup whispered to her as he pecked her gently on the lips. As she pulled back she slid across and snuggled her body into his as he wrapped a hand around her. The position was sort of awkward due to their seatbelts but nonetheless, they both felt comfortable. He kissed her once more on the head then moved to slot his music in, hoping to drown out the noise of the engine and the twins up front so he could get a few hours sleep before they arrived back at the university.

Astrid tapped him on the shoulder however and reached out with a hand, asking for one of the earbuds which he promptly handed to her. One was enough to get some sleep. Knowing she would complain otherwise, Hiccup unlocked his phone and handed it over to Astrid for her to pick the music. The last thing he heard before he closed his eyes was her quietly whispering,

"Thanks, Babe."

* * *

**Only two more weeks of exams before I can spend more time working on the story for you guys. But for now, here is the final chapter of the holiday before things start to escalate when they arrive home. **

**I hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave a comment (It really helps to motivate me to write more when I can see what you guys think.)**

-Pluckycross


	15. Chapter 15

He heard the thud that left his ears throbbing and his nose stinging as he was thrown face first into one of the bike lockers outside of his dorm. The force of the impact left a dent in the thin metal sheet that acted as a door however he could pay no mind to that as the force of the next blow hit him. Hiccup doubled over in pain as the fist connected with his body, the next second he was knelt down clutching his stomach and trying his hardest not to throw up his breakfast. Eret took the opportunity to push him down onto his side so that Hiccup was curled up in something that resembled the foetal position; he then swung his foot back and kicked him once more in the stomach causing Hiccup to retch (although nothing came out.)

He probably could have taken Eret in a fight, using his relatively small and agile body to dodge attacks, if he had been prepared. However, Eret had never given him the opportunity. He had ambushed Hiccup as he left his dorm, flanked by his lackeys Dagur and Thuggory, and immediately set upon him. So here he found himself, clutched up on the floor as the much more muscular and well-built boy stood above him, ready to kick him once more. Hiccup prematurely winced at the thought of the pain when one of the boys with Eret spoke up.

"Don't you think he has had enough Dude?" Hiccup heard a familiar voice say in a worried tone of voice. He managed to force his head up enough to see Snotlout stood behind the other three boys, looking rather pale and skittish.

"You got some kind of love for this dick?" Eret asked in a surprisingly malicious voice.

"No," Snotlout replied putting on a stereotypical bro-voice," Just if you hurt him too bad he could get the ops on you."

"Yeah, it seems like something this little wimp would do. Get the cops to fight his battles for him," Eret agreed with a nod in Snot's direction, "Let's get out of here boys!"

The other three boys took off although Snotlout remained where he was.

"Oii, Snotman. You coming?" Hiccup heard Eret call from the distance.

"Yeah, just give me a second to make sure no one finds him," Snotlout called back to an approving response from Eret as the other boys headed away. Hiccup pried his eyes, which had fluttered closed for a moment, open to look at Snotlout as he made his way over to the downed boy. Snotlout looked pale-faced as though he was about to be sick but it didn't stop him from reaching down to help a very wobbly Hiccup to his feet.

Blood was pouring from Hiccup's nose and running in two thick streams down his face. He was hunched over in pain from the punches and kicks.

"We need to get you inside," Snotlout said worriedly before wrapping Hiccups arm around his shoulder and helping the boy hobble into the dorms.

* * *

"You absolute asshole Snotlout!" Astrid shouted at the boy who was stood in the doorway, as though he was ready to bolt the moment the thought she would lunge for him. Astrid, however, remained attentively at Hiccups side. He was sprawled out on his bed, his nose plugged up with tissues. He groaned quietly and reached out his hand which Astrid promptly took in hers. "I can't believe you didn't stand up for him and any way or even try and help." It was clear she was trying to stop herself from getting angry and hurting him. Hiccup squeezed her and gently as his eyes fluttered open,

"He… Couldn't… Do... Anything," he whispered almost inaudibly before shutting his mouth once more.

"I'm just gonna go," Snotlout almost whispered as he practically darted out of the room, scared that Astrid would lose control of herself soon. She didn't pay much attention to his exit besides the sound of the door clicking shut. Astrid shifted her posture slightly so she was now kneeling beside Hiccup's bed near to where he was laid.

"What actually happened, Babe?" she asked tentatively, knowing that the brief story she had got from Snotlout earlier was not the whole story. Hiccup shifted slightly in the bed and with a movement of seemingly extreme effort, pulled himself up into a sitting position with his back against the headboard. He coughed loudly and begun speaking in a quiet but raspy voice,

"Eret happened," were the first words he got out before he dryly coughed once more, "He jumped me when I left the dorm. Started shouting at me about how I stole you from him and how I don't deserve you and how I am just a little wimp." Hiccups voice was emotionless as he spoke, showing no signs of anger or pain or really anything.

Rage still boiled inside Astrid at the thought of that lowlife Eret but her face remained plastered with a look of deep concern for Hiccup. She squeezed his hand gently as she moved to stand before pulling him into a tentative hug.

"None of that is true," she assured him, "You don't believe anything that he said do you?" She was concerned what his answer would be but relief flooded her as a small smirk crossed his face.

"Besides the part about you being way more than I deserve," he said with a slight smile, "Not a word, Milady."

"Even that is objectively wrong," she remarked back at him, letting a similar smile slip into her facial features. "You are waaaay out of my league, Babe."

"I wish," Hiccup quietly chuckled back.

* * *

A few hours later Hiccup was feeling a bit better. The pain from his body was falling away to some dull aches and his nose had quit bleeding. He was currently laid in his bed with Astrid curled up against his side, her head resting on his chest, as the two of them watched Netflix on his laptop.

"I'm not letting you out alone again," she murmured into him. Hiccup sighed quietly before he spoke,

"I'll be fine on my own, Astrid. I just need to be more careful," he stated calmly.

"But you shouldn't have to be, Hiccup." Astrid argued back at him, "You shouldn't have to be careful and scared that some jackass like Eret is gonna jump you at any time."

"And I won't be scared about it, Astrid." Hiccup replied calmly, "But I don't want to be treated like some injured little lamb forevermore because of one event."

"And I don't want to see you hurt again," she stated, as she pulled her head up from his chest to look him in the eye. Astrid's face looked stern and she fixed him with a steely gaze as she spoke.

"I won't be hurt again," Hiccup reassured her as she shifted into a sitting position and moved one of his hands to cup her cheek.

"You're right. You won't. Because I will be with you."

"Astrid."

"Hiccup."

"I won't get hurt again because I will be more careful until I can smooth all this stuff out." Hiccups voice was unwavering as he spoke. Astrid looked him in the eyes and frowned for a moment before she spoke more softly and jokingly this time,

"Why are you so damn stubborn?" She said with a slight smirk.

"Why am I so stubborn?" Hiccup looked at her with complete joking confusion on his face and raised his eyebrows with a smile on his face, "Speak for yourself, Milady." This earned him a light punch on the shoulder from her with Hiccup proceeded to completely overplay as though it had hurt him. She laughed at him as he acted out his part before he looked at her and pouted in mock sadness.

"You don't even care about me," Hiccup said, putting on his best sad little boy voice.

"Hmmm," Astrid replied with a smirk as she pulled him into a passionate kiss. "We'll see how much I don't care about you," she carried on as she shifted so that she was sitting in his lap and continued the kiss.

Perhaps today would be a better day than Hiccup had been thinking.

* * *

**Hey. Sorry once again for the long time between chapters. I've been feeling rather uninspired recently but I am hoping to get back into writing this more now that exams are all over and I have tons of free time. I hope you enjoy this chapter though as there should be more to come soon.**

**Please leave comments/suggestions as they really help to boost my enthusiasm towards writing more :)**

**P.S. Thanks for 10k views**

-Pluckycross


End file.
